With the second team starting the season undefeated, they faced their toughest test as Huddersfield Laund Hill (who were also undefeated) were in town. Headlined in the papers as ‘somebody’s 0 has got to go’ and with three teams at home the game day hype was immense. The Barmy Army fielded their strongest squad of the year with Parrish and Atherton gaining promotion to the 2nd team, accompanied by the second-row masterclass of Jack Beddard and Tom Kitching. With Atherton delivering a fierce team talk and the new stand looming in the background it was time for kick-off.

From the outset (with no stop sign and speed limit) Wetherby’s defence was dominant, Shaw and Lister providing monster hits soon winning a Wetherby scrum. A mighty first scrum from Wetherby’s pack saw Parrish receive the ball and dance his way through the defence for his first try of the game. The Wetherby dominance soon continued knocking the Laund Hill players backwards in every tackle providing Weth an attacking lineout. A gazelle like Kitching owned the linouts all game and gave a quick ball to Atherton. The backs passed the ball through the hands and Mackenzie Scurr barged his way through two defenders to provide a 12-0 Wetherby lead after 15 minutes.

Laund Hill gained short stints of momentum winning turnovers and through their 10 who had a mighty boot darting kicks long for Laund Hill to chase. However, the Barmy Army were too quick in open field for the kicking game to work. Huddersfield Launched another high ball up which was caught by Scurr who made few men miss before passing it to Hills, gaining another 20 metres as he was about to be tackled into touch before giving an offload to an angry Will Atherton as he ran it in under the sticks to add to the Laund Hill misery.

To top the 1st half off Parrish and Jefferson linked up with a sublime Gloucester move to give Parrish his 2nd try of the game. 22-0 to Weth at halftime. A halftime break allowed the boys to gaze upon the side-line support. This contained a returning Oscar and Nigel Maun who yelled a huge ‘yes mush’ when Scurr touched the ball down. There was also Adair, Ward and J Little who had chosen the beers as their opposition for the afternoon and were making light work of the two pinters. Finally Will Jeffersons Mum had again come to watch her growing boy and she was beaming with pride all game.

The 2nd half kicked off and Alex Parrish continued his first half link-up play with the centres of Jefferson and Whitelow providing a 50m offload heavy try to give Parrish his hattrick. In a moment of pure ecstasy Parrish yelled to the raucous crowd ‘scream everybody’ which they certainly did. A career high day for Parrish gaining a promotion and scoring a hat-trick, it was almost like he had a point to prove.

Shortly after Laund High found periods of dominance again with their forwards winning turnovers and the kicking game providing them with much needed territory. This gave them their first and only try of the match. The final 20 minutes of the second half gave us a sloppier style of play with Atherton starting a full 30-man brawl, Hills dropping a high ball and having an on pitch tantrum and an unlikely turnover from winger Mo Beeson. Parrish then resumed his magical game scoring a 4th try solidifying himself as the best 10 at the club.

Wetherby win 36-7. The first half performance was clinical with all players running shapes and moves that have been drilled down in training by coach Woodworth, something captain Lally highlighted in his post-game speech. Some massive games from certain players especially Kitching and Beddard who were unstoppable. Next week they take another challenge as West Leeds are in town. Oh, and one more thing…

RED RINSE BABY!