Wetherby welcomed one of the top three sides in the division, Old Rishworthians to Grange Park on Saturday. I don't know where Rishworth is precisely, but they must have set off on Wednesday, as they always get a mention in the rush hour traffic report. Wetherby were hit again by injuries and unavailability, and fielded a side with inexperienced combinations against a Rish side with a reputation for being exceedingly organised.

Wetherby were given some bizarre words of inspiration in the pre-game huddle from Tom Edwards, but flew out of the blocks early. The referee awarded a penalty and a yellow card for a high tackle on live-wire Jonny Day, and Wetherby had made the perfect start. 3-0.

After a missed kick to touch from a penalty as the restart was collected, Rish launched their first real attack. Unfortunately Wetherby lost Tom Edwards early to a head injury in the tackle, and with that the team started to lose their criticalness. Whatever that is. Rish battered the line and met the hard working Wetherby defence, spearheaded by Harry Johnson. Unfortunately the organisation fell apart and the visitors scored in the corner. 3-5.

Rish looked organised in defence, and their line speed caused big problems for the Wetherby forwards, with only Elliott Lloyd Kinsey Griffiths and George Gilbert making yards in the first half. Wetherby were allowing too much ball to be turned over by the aggressive Rish pack, although they did have the upper hand in the set piece with both scrum and line-out functioning.

One talking point from the first half came after the referee adjudged Gareth Plant to have put a late hit on his opposite number as he chased his own kick. The referee didn't mind the challenge but said that his piercings made him look like a colander, and it was putting him off his job. Rish scored either side of this yellow card, with the second coming from a neat kick and chase from their centre and putting Wetherby backs firmly against the wall. 3-19.

Wetherby were mastering their own downfall in the first half. Some of the organisation could be forgiven due to personnel issues, but when the ball went deep the back three kicked like it was a bowling ball! Billy Cale managed to make about 17 centimetres with one of his clearing kicks. This put Rish on the front foot again, and with their big number eight having causing havoc, they created a well worked try in the corner. 26-7.

Wetherby heads had now dropped, and mistakes were aplenty. There were encouraging patches to the dying embers of the first half with the disco footed Andrew Trotman showing glimpses of his pace, whilst hypnotising the opposition winger with his flakey theories about roulette. Alas, the half ended with another Rish try however as Wetherby went into the sheds having constructed very little against the organised opposition.

Half-time: Wetherby 3-33 Old Rishworthians

With very little to lose, Wetherby tried to listen to Myles Oates' half-time ramblings, and after a good, hearty nap took to the field feeling refreshed. With two absentees at tight-head prop, Will Dutton was given a chance to shine. Fortunately he's played most of his career at prop! He definitely made his presence felt, with a built up aggression a far cry from his 2009 soppiness on Facebook!

For twenty minutes, the game turned into an arm wrestle, with Jim Greenwood and Mattie Chappel leading the tackle count, and James Gibson imposing at the line-out. The performance level had certainly stepped up from Wetherby, and even Jack Radcliffe managed to throw passes to hand!

Out in the midfield, Jonny Day and Ed Blackwell were plucky in defence, and gobbled up any loose ball when in attack. Despite Wetherby being stuffed in the first half, Ed managed to crown a better second half performance with a carving tackle to set up the giblet-faced Myles Oates to sprint through and score. 10-33.

Wetherby soon followed up with a second try of the game to put some respectability into the score line. After some good forward running, myleypoo again popped up in the midfield and broke a tackle before offloading to Andrew Trotman for him to slide over the line. Unfortunately, the conversion was more than three yards away from the posts, so was obviously missed. 15-33.

The introduction of Barney Roberts is often a double edged sword, as his hit and miss defence has cost tries this season, but with a second gust of wind from the Rish backs was stemmed brilliantly as Barney cut out the try-scoring pass. The other big positive to Barney's selection are the flurry of new profile pictures made available by his dad's photography.

Unfortunately Rish weren't to be held out, and despite some workhorse displays from the Wetherby forwards in the second half, the visitors managed to sneak in for two late tries to gain a score line that slightly flattered them. A very tough day at the office for the Wetherby boys, but one they'll hope to put right quickly as they travel to struggling Sheffield Medics next week.

Full-time: Wetherby 15-45 Old Rishworthians

MoM: Elliott - carried strongly and made hard yards in the first time, backed up with a strong showing at scrum time.

DoD: Gareth - cards must be punished, especially when you get one for looking like a character from Ru Paul's Drag Race