After last weeks heroics in Merseyside, Wetherby returned to league action against local rivals Harrogate Pythons. Wetherby arrived at the army foundation college to find a pitch in good condition and the weather suggested Spring had finally arrived.

After a sharp looking warm up, Harrogate kicked off and Wetherby were forced to absorb early pressure. The Harrogate pack put pressure on the much-changed Wetherby forwards and forced an early penalty just outside the Wetherby 22. Fortunately the effort hit the post and Wetherby got out of trouble, thanks mainly to a line-out that has looked the business in the last few weeks.

When Wetherby finally got ball in hand they looked giddy to be playing on a pitch that didn't resemble the Somme and were throwing the ball around like they were playing touch rugby. In fact, Andrew Trotman was playing touch rugby like he does any other week. Trotman was the only rugby player in the country to whole-heartedly back Allyson Pollock in her efforts to ban tackling in schools.
It was in his desperate efforts to avoid contact that he produced Michael Flatley-esque footwork to put Conor Sheridan in for the games opening score. 0-5

Not to be outdone by the backs, the second try came off the back of some Fijian style play from the front row. Rupeni Griffiths and Akapusi Hoather combined to send Nemani Lally shuffling down hill to score. 0-12

Despite suffering in the scrum, the Wetherby pack were working hard at the breakdown with the real Jim Shady and AJ harvesting plenty of turnovers. George Gilbert tore about the pitch like Donny from the Wild Thornberry's, while in the midfield Danny Warden put on some big shots while looking more like Nigel Thornberry. Smashing.

Warden's midfield partner Rob Adair burst through a gap and finished with all the finesse of Peter Kay's dive in the John Smiths advert. This was soon followed by Andrew Trotman finishing another fifteen-man sevens move as Wetherby went in at the break with a bonus point in hand. Half-time: Harrogate Pythons 0-24 Wetherby.

Harrogate came out for the second half firing and put a squeeze on at scrum time and came close on the Wetherby line. The Wetherby forwards dug deep and held them out but the pressure opened gaps in the back line, and with Trotman's strict no tackling policy Harrogate scored in the corner. 5-24.

As the game opened up Wetherby were guilty of not converting their chances but when lion-heart Harry Kaye broke the line, he set Liam Hogan free to score from thirty yards to mark his return to the side. 5-31.

Despite the uncertainty at scrum time, Wetherby grew in confidence at the line-out and showed their flair with a neat line-out move. The ball was peeled to the giant thumb-shaped figure of Will Dutton who activated full beast mode to beat five defenders and score. 5-38.

The game became increasingly scrappy but there was still time for the fleet footed Trotman to put the icing on the cake for Wetherby. Five tries in two games shows he is in a rich vein of form. It's just a shame his body has the structural stability of an under-cooked soufflé.

Full time: Harrogate Pythons 5-43 Wetherby.

Next week sees the first team have a well deserved week off before a top of the table clash at home to Thornensians.

MoM: James Greenwood - like an albino Maro Itoje he smashed tackles, won turnovers, won his line-out ball and made a couple of line-out steals.

DoD: Jack Kaye - a five match baron spell for the former top try scorer continued. It must be hard to beat defenders with that big bottom lip hanging out though.