Thorne by name, thorn by nature. The team bus left Wetherby under no illusions that the trip to South Yorkshire was to be a prickly affair that could define their season. But he who dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose.

Another crisp, windy day meant that this was not to be a classic encounter, as might have been expected from the league's top two sides. The game started with a long kick off from Thorne into the Wetherby 22. In typical Wetherby fashion they tried to play from the back. The referee made it clear from the off however, that he was not going to tolerate any running rugby. He proceeded to make the first of many questionable decisions by firstly giving a dubious forward pass, and secondly giving a strange scrum penalty. 3-0

It must be noted at this point that despite the referees best efforts in trying to make the worst decision of the day, he was pipped to it by Danny with his terrible choice in fancy dress. It appears his missus took the telly with her when she left as he's obviously not been watching the news recently!

More pressure from Thorne caught the Wetherby defence still on the bus as they continually won the battle of the gain line with their heavy runners. Their forwards were let down by the back division who spilt the ball into the waiting arms of Myles Oates, to whom I owe an apology. Last week I blamed his dreadful on-pitch fashion on his girlfriend not being there. As it transpires he dresses weirdly even when she is there! Sorry for the misunderstanding Myles.
Myles scampered under the posts and Conor converted. 3-7.

Thorne again kicked long and Wetherby again fell into the trap of thinking they'd be allowed to play rugby on a rugby pitch, and conceded another penalty. The maul defence was strong from Wetherby but a tackle at hip height was adjudged to be too high, earning Tom Edwards a yellow card. Thorne missed the penalty but ran through a vacant Wetherby defence to score. 10-7.

Half-time approached and Wetherby endured more of the same and were lucky to escape further punishment as Thorne fluffed their lines by throwing a try-scoring pass forward. 10-7 at half time.

The first ten minutes of the second half saw Thorne throw everything they had at Wetherby and test their defences for the final time in the match. Wetherby looked more confident and assured in the second half despite their scrum going backwards for the first time this year! Wetherby absorbed the pressure as well as Alex Dus absorbs criticism of his man bun, and finally the referee gave us a penalty. He stuck to his guns and made sure we didn't take it quickly. Remember: no running rugby! Fortunately the saviour of Wetherby, Conor Sheridan was there to step up and kick the penalty. 10-10.

The final twenty minutes showcased Wetherby's superior fitness and ability to go up through the gears as they forced yet another penalty. Same result. 13-10.

The sustained Wetherby pressure was tough going for both the Thorne defence and the referee. Tom Bottomley peeled off the back of a strong driving maul to dot the ball down only for the referee to disallow the try for a knock-on. I think. It really was hard to tell!

With five minutes left on the clock, the referee had one more part to play in the game. After I gave him the big write up last week, Liam Hogan let his passion get the better of him and told the referee what we were all thinking. This earned him a yellow card and gave Thorne another chance. Wetherby again defended strongly and a great turnover from George Gilbert sealed another penalty to kill the clock. Final score 16-10.

A well deserved rest next week before the home straight towards Christmas!

MoM - Tom Bottomley. Great impact when he came on. Inspired bit of coaching to play him in the second row rather than on the wing!

DoD - Jihadi Dan. Idiot.