In a break from my tradition of not bothering to write match reports when we lose, I'm going to try and be more consistent this year! Wetherby traveled to Thornensians for the repeat of last years Yorkshire Silver Trophy final. Games between these two teams are usually only separated by the width of a spiders ball hair, and so it proved to be the case again.

Despite it still being British summer time, a deluge throughout the game made sure that this was going to be a game for the purists. Early dropped balls allowed Wetherby to show their early dominance in the scrum. After being man-shamed by the pre-season performances of Scott Wallis, Bradley Masons return to the starting XV due to a technicality saw a return of big scrummaging and even bigger paddies.
Much of the early pressure was applied by the visitors, though with both sides missing attempts at goal from penalties, the game remained scoreless. After more pressure from the set piece from Wetherby, they crashed the ball over the line with Danny Warden going through on a line typical of his back row style of play. 0-7.

The ever mercurial Jack Kaye was both sinner and Saint in the same mood, as he opted out of tackling his three foot tall opposite number but tracked back to carve a line through the Thorne defence. Having beaten six defenders he off loaded to Alex Dus and left him one to beat. Unfortunately the glut of all those free Costa muffins has had a detrimental effect on his pace as he looked like he was running on a treadmill. The first of a couple of tries that Wetherby left out there.

A frustrating afternoon started to unfold for Wetherby with a string of silly penalties that absolutely kill a coaches plans. Thorne were scrappy at the breakdown and definitely fell on the friendly side of the referees decision sword. A yellow card for Liam Hogan shortly before half time looked to be a little harsh, and was surely going to harm Wetherby as the hot headed Neanderthal carried on his impressive early season form.

Big defence from the two doorman in the second row Mattie Chappel and Matt Harrison held Thorne out and allowed Wetherby to go in ahead at the break.
Half time: Thorne 0-7 Wetherby.

Thorne came out fired up for the second half and showed the fight that Wetherby have become accustomed to facing whenever the two sides meet. A big carry in front of the home crowd was chopped down in a huge hit by Tom Edwards. Unfortunately he became trapped under the tackler and was penalised in front of the posts. 3-7.

Despite the Thorne intensity continuing, Wetherby continued to create. After Myles Oates broke down the left, he chose to pass for the first time in his career. Mystified by this decision, poor little Harry Kaye was caught like a rabbit in the headlights as he dropped the ball over the line. He seems to have been having rugby lessons from his brother over the summer as he now looks a shell of the man he was. Maybe it's the pressure of being a doting house husband.

A further chance came when Tom Edwards was put through a massive gap in the defence and spilt the ball for the twelfth time of the afternoon, despite claiming to have caught everything after the match! There was plenty of evidence in the showers of what Tom had managed to catch, and it didn't look like a rugby ball!

As Thorne pressed up field they were fed by a string of Wetherby penalties as the penalty count rose. Directly from a line-out the Thorne centre found a huge hole in the Wetherby defence and forced their way over for the unconverted try. 8-7.

Wetherby hit back almost instantaneously with some good breakdown work from the returning James Gibson. Having proposed to his girlfriend in the week, he clarified that the real love of his life is touring the hovels of Yorkshire on a Saturday afternoon playing rugby with the laaaaads.
Despite the penalty being straight forward, the kick ricocheted off the post and Thorne cleared their lines.

The Wetherby effort couldn't be faulted, but their application was badly lacking. Poor decision making from the back three constantly gave away territory, a lack of intensity in defence, and poor ball retention made it hard to climb back into the game. As the game became more fractious Elliott Lloyd Kinsey Griffiths wore a nasty present from his opposite number after beasting him at scrum time again.
Bradley's lack of summer training, or training in any general capacity became obvious as he left the pitch to throw up in the closing stages. Although Wetherby were dreaming of a last gasp moment of genius, the game fizzled away.

Final Score: Thornensians 8-7 Wetherby.

On a day where the Wetherby set piece fired, the big frustration was the uncharacteristic lack of accuracy. Plenty to work on for next Saturday!

MoM: Jonny Day - Like a wasp across the park. Caused constant nuisance for Thorne and covered in defence brilliantly.
DoD: Harry Kaye - However short we are of players, Harry is unavailable for the next Thorne game. We don't want him to cost us another one.