It was a crisp November afternoon at Grange Park this Saturday, 10’s of supporters had gathered for another Yorkshire 1 clash, with the Wetherby XV taking on Huddersfield Laund Hill. As Wetherby trotted out for their ninth clash in Yorkshire 1, it was obvious that there was more in the air than the familiar easterly A1(M) wind, optimism and excitement .

Off the back of an away win the week prior, it was obvious that the boy’s tails were up and spirits were high, spurred on further by the promise of a curryoke social to come that evening. The squad was filled with several regulars, and saw the return of Harry Johnson and Tom Goodall in the pack.

The bible famously states that pride comes before a fall and as the game kicked off, despite the optimism and excitement, a few reckless penalties in the opening stages allowed HLH to take first blood, slotting a penalty in the first 10 (0-3).

This was just the wake-up that the boys needed and unfortunately for the opposition, the Wetherby Whalers had been unleashed. Some big carries from Charlie Yates and Tom Goodall, started to make some cracks in the HLH defense. The pressure finally became too much and, having obviously worked on his open play kicking from the previous season, Jarrod Dixon managed to find Jack Kaye with the toe, to dot down for the first try of the game (5-3).

Like two rams trying to assert dominance over one another both teams exchanged a penalty (8-6), before the mighty Whalers went into overdrive. Harry Kaye continued to pull the strings at ten opening gaps in the HLH defence and big carries from Will Blakey put Weth on the front foot. A cultured chip and chase looked to have put Jarod Dixon in for the second try of the game, but he was denied by an off ball challenge. Penalty Try Wetherby (15-6). I guess good kicks from Jarrod are like London buses, you don’t see any for ages and then two turn up at once.

The Wetherby onslaught continued, even resident club punching bag and disgraced ex social secretary, Elliott Reid looked to be in for score. In a bizarre passage of play the fear of scoring was to be too great and despite being over the line ball in hand he placed it back for Will Blakey to score (22-6).

Sam Little took the ball from the restart. Some nice feet and a big hand off allowed him to take the ball in his half prance past 3 HLH defenders and under the sticks (29-6).

Coaches Geoff Brown and James Carson joined the boys on the paddock for words of encouragement. Geoff delivering his famous half time team talk – informing all players that they could be better and that we were attacking too flat.

The second half was a far cagier affair, with HLH coming out firing and neither team managing to get too much purchase on the game. The old heads of Jonny Day and Jim Greenwood settled the boys in the second half allowing us to build the lead with a couple of long range shots from Charlie Yates (35-6).

HLH pulled back into the game with a try through their forwards with 35 minutes to go (35 -13), before we sent in the reinforcements of Louis Cox-Rawnsley, George Gilbert and Barney Youlden.

The final 20 minutes were tight and required a huge effort to close out the game. A huge defensive shift allowed the boys to maintain the lead at the final whistle. The game ended, with a big 5 points secured for the men in hoops and a great precursor to a big evening of Indian food and poor singing.

Next week we travel to West Leeds as we hope to string some wins together and climb up the table.