The first game after the Christmas break has always been a bit of a bogey game for Wetherby, and despite a good home win against Saturday's opposition, Wetherby arrived in Apperley Bridge to find a much changed Old Grovians side. Wetherby had Harry Kaye returning to the squad after half a season out injured, and fielded a strong side.

Despite a fairly lacklustre warm up Wetherby started the game brightly. Early pressure at the kick off gave the visitors a chance to really impose themselves physically on the game, with the destructive back row of George Gilbert, Tom Edwards and Harry Johnson all making telling early hits. Groves tried to force things to break the red and white wall and gave away the first penalty of the game in the process. Unfortunately Myles Oates fluffed his lines and hooked it wide.

Wetherby looked organised in both attack and defence in the early stages and forced another mistake with their aggressive defence and earned themselves a scrum thirty yards out in the middle of the pitch. A neat switch play gave Andrew Trotman room to slither himself into a gap and give Jack Kaye a 1-on-1 which he neatly put away. 0-7.

One of the big downfalls of Wetherby's play this year has been their concession of cheap penalties. Stephen Hoather made an almighty mess of reclaiming the restart as he looked like he was trying to catch a fireball. At the resulting scrum Groves were given a good platform to fire their bulky back-row ball runners at the Wetherby defences. An infringement at the ruck allowed Groves to post their first points to the board. 3-7.

This was swiftly followed by a second penalty as Wetherby fell foul to the new high tackle laws. The Groves kicker put his impressive left boot to good measure again and made it a one point ball game. 6-7.

With some strong carries in the midfield from Liam Hogan and some heavy work from the forwards, Wetherby pushed onto the front foot again. Struggling to break through the defences, Wetherby were finally given their just rewards from a touch of class that changed the game. Stephen Hoather showed pace and power to burst through the line and finish off a fantastic bit of running rugby from a couple of yards out. 6-14.

Wetherby were starting to play with some real flow and the Grovians defence was hog tied as Ed Blackwell burst through the centres and surged towards the tryline. As he went to spit the killer pass, a rogue hand knocked the ball over the try-line. Although Ed won the battle to dot the ball down, he was adjudged to have knocked on and the try was chalked off. Poor Ed was so annoyed after the game, he even forgot where the biting point on his clutch was as he stalled whilst trying to speed off.

Despite Grovians causing big problems for Wetherby at the line-out, they were struggling to cause problems anywhere else. Jim Greenwood spring loaded his calves and fired into tackles relentlessly, like he was doing a drill. The tireless work in defence bought Wetherby a couple of penalties as they opened up a healthy cushion going into half-time.

Half time: Old Grovians 6-20 Wetherby.

Wetherby came out firing in the second half and with James Gibson shoring up the line-out, the red and whites again found themselves on the front foot. Liam Hogan and Elliott Griffiths cannoned into the Grovians line like they were hiding sandwiches in their back pockets but it was a strong scrummage from Bradley Mason that won Wetherby their next penalty.

Bradley was getting a rare start this season and looked to take his chance. Despite looking like Randy from my name his Earl, he's a deceptively fearsome presence, and the penalty allowed Wetherby to stretch the game to three scores ahead. 6-23.

The second half then took a turn for the scrappy as chances were few and far between. Both defences generally stayed organised on a narrow pitch that stifled the potential for running rugby. The game became an arm wrestle in the midfield. Jonny Day got a little over ambitious as he went high on a man five times his size. Fortunately the wet pitch meant he only rolled ten yards, but a lesson was learnt nonetheless.

In a battle of the back rows, big hits were coming in from both sides, and one spilt ball allowed slick rick Andrew Trotman to hack the ball through. His kicks ahead put him in a foot battle with his opposite number, which he surely would have won had it not been for the enormous amount of drag generated by his sideways nose. He finally won a close foot race to reach the ball first, but as in the first half the referee disallowed the try for a knock on that nobody else saw.

Shortly after Wetherby were reduced to fourteen men as captain Myles Oates decided that a pre-requisite of tackling someone was not necessarily them being in possession of the ball. This would ordinarily earn a man the DoD nomination but there was one final twist in the game...

When it appeared that the game was drifting towards a slow end, the most comical incident of my entire rugby career brought amazement and hilarity to all in attendance. Class clown Jack Kaye intercepted a pass on the wing and looked for all the world to be in for the try. Thirty yards out his head started jutting forwards like a nag struggling to finish a steeplechase. The world seemed to slow down as he leant further and further forwards before tripping over a worm on the ground and collapsing into a pathetic little heap on the floor. He'd actually managed to trip over his own feet. The only positive is that it broke the boredom of an otherwise dull second half.

Full-time: Old Grovians 6-23 Wetherby.

A scrappy game briefly lit up by the skill of Hoather and the baffoonery of simpleton Kaye.

MoM: Jonny Day - Brilliant performance in both attack and defence. As persistent as a wasp that won't leave your picnic alone.

DoD: Jack Kaye - If he were a racehorse they'd have turned him into glue already. An unceremonious way to end his first team career.