WHARFEDALE have reacted firmly to an incident in their recent National Two game at Orrell which resulted in centre David Whitfield being the victim of a late and dangerous high tackle, (writes Tony Simpson).

Perpetrator of the offence was Orrell fly-half Phil Jones, who 'took out' Whitfield when he was seeking to put Carl Burnett in for a try in the second-half of the meeting at Edge Hall Road.

With most people following the flight of the ball, few in the audience saw the offence, although Whitfield had just enough use of his faculties afterwards to know that the match video would reveal the nature of the clattering he received.

Sure enough, the Wharfedale video identified Jones as the culprit and the documentation was prepared for Wharfedale to cite the player since none of the officials spotted the offence.

Director of Rugby Mike Harrison then contacted his opposite number 'Sammy' Southern, who agreed to view the Wharfedale video and take action if he agreed with the Greens' opinion.

"We have never cited anyone before, but felt that this was a piece of foul play we could not ignore and that needed some form of punishment," said Harrison. "I spoke to Sammy, we came to a gentleman's agreement about it and having watched the video, he came back to me with an assurance that the player would be banned and fined.

"Subsequently, we have received a letter from Orrell confirming that Jones will not play in the next two games and will receive a monetary fine for his actions. We have also received a written apology from the player to David Whitfield in which he acknowledges that he has let his club down.

"Some take the view that the offence was such that it warranted a four-week suspension, but I am satisfied that Orrell have acted in good faith and taken steps to punish their man. We still have to go to work on Mondays after these matches and it is important to make it clear that this sort of behaviour is not acceptable".

*The game at Edge Hall Road was also significant for Wharfedale flanker Hedley Verity. He has been carrying a neck injury for a while, but aggravated the problem in innocent circumstances at Orrell.

The outcome is that Verity is denied the chance to add to the Dalesmen's list of Barbarians' players. With a league game at Preston Grasshoppers next Saturday top of the agenda, Verity has pulled out of the Barbarians side to meet the Combined Services at Portsmouth on Tuesday, losing his chance - for the time being at least - to follow John Spencer and John Lawn into the world-famous touring team.

*Remember Russell Buckroyd? He's been on an extended holiday in Australia in recent weeks, but he seeks to shrug off the debilitating effects of all that leisure when he has his first run-out of the season with Wharfedale Foresters at The Avenue tomorrow, when Kirkby Lonsdale are visitors.