The Wetherby committee were greeted warmly by the Huddersfield Chairman after the trek from our home town to Laund Hill. Steak pie and chips followed by jam tart and custard set us up for some great rugby with both 1sts and 2nds travelling over by coach.
And it looked like the 1st team had also eaten too much pie as in the first 20 minutes they delivered a generally lacklustre performance. Huddersfield went 3-0 up as Wetherby found them offside for the first, but not last, time in the match. And Huddersfield were to increase their lead through a try that was gifted after Wetherby tried to force too many passes too quickly, seemingly trying to score from each phase.
8-0 to the home side

Meanwhile on the adjacent 2nd team pitch Dan Simpson scored the first of many Wetherby tries in an exciting and pacey match vs Huddersfield 2nds.

Back to the 1sts and there were a number of changes from the past few weeks’ consistent team selection. With Adair and Yates out, Ollie Hills and James Ward join the regular crew and proved to be more than worthy of their selections.

Whilst very little was happening on the 1st team pitch, a quick glance over to the 2nds saw soon to be Man of the Match, Hardman accept the last of a series of cultured passes and ran the full half of the pitch at pace to dot down unchallenged.

Meanwhile on the 1st team pitch Wetherby were starting to show some of the class that has seen them go unbeaten in 9. And as the forwards marauded up the pitch with some aggressive carries from Hoather, Gilbert and Blakey, the familiar partnership of Day and Oates was starting to fire.

But the forwards weren’t going to have it all their own way and the Huddersfield pack provided the sternest test of the season with some strong resistance. However when Weth have a scrum within 10 yards of the tryline it inevitably ends in a score, as was the case for Blakey.
8-7

Meanwhile on the 2nds pitch, Will Jefferson was smashing through tackles with powerful runs, scoring Wetherby’s 3rd and leaving a trail of destruction behind him, bodies all over the pitch.

The unfamiliar back line of Hills, Little and Kaye were starting to get to know each other with Little in at full back and controlling the narrative from the Huddersfield kicks. And in the next phase of play Gilbert found himself free of the opposition forwards and in space running towards the back three of Huddersfield, slowed to enable his less pacey team mates to catch up. Unfortunately, as he attempted a basket ball over the top pass he handed it straight to the opposition full back and the momentum was lost.

Gilbert seemed to have sparked some life and belief in to the Wetherby team which led to some lovely powerful running by Blakey that opened up the pitch for the very quick backs but a high tackle on Little stopped the attack in the opposition 22.

The subsequent kick left Wetherby with a line out on the 5m line and surely a significant chance to take the lead for the first time in the match. With the lineout going to plan Wetherby forced pressure on Huddersfield who succumbed to a yellow card and a scrum for Wetherby on the 5. And with Gilbert skilfully keeping the ball in the back of the advancing scrum he dutifully dropped on the ball over the line to score.

Half time 10-12

Fortunately, the second half kicked off with far more intensity than the first and Wetherby kept possession of the ball for a number of phases with Reid and Goodall busy in the loose, before Acland broke free towards the 22. But without any support he was pinged for holding on and Huddersfield get another let off.

But with so much pressure, another try was coming and Hoather scored in a melee in the far corner, almost at the same time as Jefferson ran through again for the 2nds. Perhaps he was sending the selection committee a message.

10-17

In a poor disciplined game that saw Wetherby give away in excess of 20 penalties, Huddersfield enjoyed another shot at 3 points and converted bringing the score to 13-17.

But the Wetherby have strength in depth and the combination of Woodworth, Greenwood and Ward gave Wetherby some exciting options. With the forwards doing all the grunt work, the backs we’re looking dangerous and they really made it count in a mad 5 minutes. Kaye (H) produced a cultured kick over the defence, with Little in hot pursuit he crafted a pirouette worthy of Strictly, and bamboozled the full back, scooping up the ball and running clean through. Youlden, having been busy around the pitch but not legendary with his boot, converted this one.

13-24

And almost immediately from the kick off, Huddersfield attempted slightly too ambitious backs play and a fumbled pass ended up in Oates’s bread basket. He showed a clean set of heals for try 2 of three. Yet the best was still to come!

13-31

Kaye (H) secured the ball shortly after the kick off and again nudged it over the Huddersfield defence to the right wing. With Hills apparently missing in action on the wing, Little picked up on the opportunity and powered in to the Huddersfield half. But never underestimate Hills who magically appeared on Little’s inside shoulder, at pace, and gladly received the pass, running the ball in to the heart of the opposition half, comfortably off loading to Blakey in loads of space to score. A great team effort.

13-38

Huddersfield were an honest bunch of lads and despite those three tries, kept up their own pressure until the final whistle, getting one try back.

Final Score for the 1sts 18-38.

Final score for 2nds 7-51

The Huddersfield lads were great entertainment after the match, complimenting us on our play, our dress sense and our drinking – Boat race 1-0 to Wetherby too. The Chairman donated his raffle prize bottle of 10 year old Port to the return coach trip and hoped it would be drunk responsibly!