Wetherby beat West Park in the wind

After a poor start to the league campaign Wetherby were hoping to climb out of the bottom two as they welcomed West Park on Saturday. Storm Brian reared its ugly head, and was lashing all around the ground, which meant Mattie Chappel had to stay at home to avoid him flying away again.

Wetherby started the game brightly putting early pressure on the visitors. Some strong early carries from local businessman of the year Tom Bottomley forced a penalty in front of the posts, which was duly converted by the ever present captain Warden. 3-0.

The early pace from Wetherby was maintained through an early break. The try should have been finished off but Myles Oates was predictably selfish and failed to put the winger under the posts. Fortunately Wetherby gained a scrum five metres out, and the 60 stone front row pushed over for the opening try. 10-0.

To the credit of West Park, they forced their way through the blistering game up field. Some stupid penalties from the home side made the journey slightly easier and Wetherby found themselves defending their own 22. Despite a huge double tackle from George Gilbert and Steve Hoather West Park won a kickable penalty and closed the scores. 10-3.

The Wetherby scrum was back to its dominant best, with Scotty Wallis and Bradley Mason in fine form. Bradley's ten minutes of training in the last two weeks is clearly paying off. It was off the back of a scrum that the backs broke free. George Gilbert, whose work-rate was outstanding all afternoon, ran a lovely support line and stretched Wetherby's lead. 17-3.

Harry Kaye was running his troops around the park, which was made all the more surprising given how much he had on his plate. Poor Harry was scheduled in for an early start as he had to pick up his parents from the airport to repay the £7.50 he owed them. His calm head made good use of another overlap and Andrew Trotman found himself in the scoring line. 24-3.

With their sales up the red and whites were back to somewhere near their attacking best. Jack Kaye was particularly threatening, only denying Andrew Trotman of a try by throwing a forward pass after a great break. Moments later, wannabe Simon Cowell Trotman came close again as he was tightly adjudged to be in touch before grounding after a great attempted finish in the corner. Despite these chances West Park held on until half time.

Half-Time: Wetherby 24-3 West Park.

With the wind in their faces in the second half, things were bound to be different. Rag'n'bone man had all of his tattoos blown off and sensationally turned into Harry Freeman. Harry's commitment to recruitment should be noted this week, although I think trying to tap up the chef in the Indian takeaway whilst half-cut at midnight might not be the most successful approach.

Despite the wind and lack of possession in the early parts of the second period, the Wetherby defence held solid. George Gilbert was everywhere, and was supported brilliantly by Rhys Thompson who did plenty of the unseen dirty work in the tight quarters. The game was becoming an arm wrestle. Wetherby won a penalty and Warden did the business. 27-3.

Despite only having one good arm to wrestle with, Rob Adair was back to his warthog tricks on Saturday. The truffle master was turning over a lot of ball, and half way through the second half Wetherby took advantage of it. The outside backs shows great hands on the wing before Jack Kaye finished brilliantly from 40 yards to secure a bonus point. 34-3.

With the game turning into a tactical battle of kicking, it became a matter of time as to who would crack first. Chris Atkinson controlled his forwards well but Wetherby failed to deal with a kick through late in the game and found themselves facing their own try line. The ball came wide and two weeks on the all inclusive rum showed up as Steve Hoather missed a straightforward tackle. West park scored under the posts to give the score a slightly fairer feel.

Full-Time: Wetherby 31-10 West Park

A much more complete performance from Wetherby, but a tough test ahead next week as the Grange Park men travel to table-topping Pontefract.

MoM: George Gilbert - Outstanding performance full of energy, strong defence and powerful carrying.

DoD: Steve Hoather - like a dog that needed putting out to pasture in the last twenty minutes.