Wharfedale 15 – Blaydon 12

Conceding penalties at crucial times contributed much to Blaydon’s downfall, none more so than in the 72nd minute when they were leading 5-12. At which point Andrew Baggett was yellow-carded for interfering with the ball on the ground, Wharfedale’s Tom Davidson landed the penalty and the home side went on to grab a narrow victory they just about deserved.

Former Blaydon fly-half Jamie Guy on his debut for Wharfedale opened the scoring in the 14th minute when he charged down a clearance and gathered in for a simple touchdown.

The lead was soon wiped out however by Robbie Kalbraier the Blaydon prop who rumbled over from a line-out drive and at the break it was all level at 5-5.

In their best spell in the early minutes of the second period Blaydon piled on the pressure and after a number of attacks had been repelled scrum-half James Christie dotted over for a fine opportunist score and Baggett added the conversion.

That was the end of Blaydon’s opportunities as Wharfedale gradually regained control leading up to the sin-binning and Davidson’s penalty. With time running out Blaydon had worked their way into a promising position only to concede a penalty for wrong numbers in a line-out.

Wharfedale kicked long downfield and from the next line-out flank-forward Joshua Burridge crashed over for the winning score and Davidson once more was on target.

John Brennan