National Division One

Wharfedale 39 Nottingham 9

(Half-time 10-8)

Wharfedale scorers: tries P Evans, J Lawn, R Buckroyd, D Harrison, R Lancaster, penalty try; cons A Mounsey 3; pens A Mounsey.

Nottingham scorers: pens R Campbell 3.

At 5 feet 7 inches Wharfedale captain John Lawn may have been the shortest player on the field but his giant-size commitment was a major factor as his side powered to a comprehensive victory over last season's form side Nottingham, writes Keith Lewis.

Leading by example Lawn was always in the thick of the action and was ably supported by vice-captain Hedley Verity and the rest of the formidable Wharfedale pack.

Denied possession for long periods Nottingham did their best to move the ball wide but there they came up against a solid home back division intent on keeping their line intact.

Nineteen-year-old George Smithson had an encouraging home debut on the left wing for Wharfedale, using his pace and tackling prowess to pressurise opponents. The side's tally of six tries could easily have been doubled if the scoring requirement had been simply to cross the Nottingham line. Several downward spirals by the home forwards failed to meet with the referee's approval but the team stuck to their task and eventually went on to record their biggest league victory since January

Both sides had similar line-ups to last season, the most notable absentees being Wharfedale fly-half David Pears who has rejoined Harlequins and Nottingham's former captain lock Glenn Delaney, a New Zealander who has signed for Coventry. Spanish Under 21 flanker Aldo Burchill was included in the visitors' side after joining them from Leicester.

Wharfedale kicked off in their now familiar change strip of cherry and white hoops and went straight on the rampage, camping inside the visitors' '22' for the opening 10 minutes as flanker Russ Buckroyd converted penalties to lineouts with the zeal of a missionary. The tactics almost paid off as both locks, David Lister and Paul Evans, were driven over without reward and after 10 minutes of pressure Nottingham regrouped and forced two penalties in quick succession at the other end. Centre Rob Campbell landed the second to give the visitors the lead but the Cherry and Whites came back with a vengeance.

No 8 Charlie Vyvyan was first out of the stalls and scrum-half Dan Harrison was quickly up in support before being halted five metres out. Nottingham strayed offside at the breakdown, as they were to do with increased regularity throughout the afternoon and spurning three certain points Buckroyd guided the kick into the corner, looking to make it five. It took two lineouts to get it right but Lister's clean catch was eventually burrowed over by Evans for the opening try.

Although the visitors enjoyed another spell of possession during which time Campbell landed a further penalty and Smithson pulled off a try-saving tackle on the Notts fly-half Sam Jack, Wharfedale replied with a score before half-time following another Nottingham offside.

Buckroyd's penalty brought another lineout in the corner and when Lister plucked the ball out of the air prop Neil Dickinson supplied the initial surge and it was Lawn who eventually emerged triumphant as the pile of bodies disengaged in the in-goal area.

After the interval following Nottingham's poor restart Wharfedale fly-half Neil Heseltine tested the visiting full-back Richard Bygraves with a kick into the opposing '22'. The ever-eager Smithson arrived soon after the ball and Bygraves was penalised for not releasing in the tackle.

This eventually resulted in an attacking scrum 10 metres from the Nottingham line. The home crowd's blue-eyed boy, Buckroyd, then produced a moment of individual magic, picking up from the base of the scrum and dummying twice in quick succession before crashing over for the third try.

With the score at 17-9 following an Adam Mounsey conversion and another penalty success for Campbell, Wharfedale centre David Whitfield dropped back to collect a misdirected Nottingham clearance and saw an opportunity to counter-attack. Mounsey arrived to take up possession on halfway and an inside pass sent Craig Walker on a straight path to the line. Although tackled, the block-busting centre managed to link with Harrison who scampered over, making it 22-9.

With the visitors hanging on desperately another seven minutes of intense pressure resulted in yet another Buckroyd penalty finding touch in the what was rapidly becoming a Dales version of Hellfire Corner. Well-practised by now, the routine was simple - Lister catch, Evans drive, plunge oversupplied by prop Richard Lancaster and try number five converted by Mounsey.

In the closing stages Heseltine and Harrison both went close before Buckroyd caused more chaos in the Nottingham defence with an up and under of enema proportions. It almost brought a try for home fullback Sean Gilbert and from the resulting five-metre scrum the ball was switched to the blind side where a try would certainly have resulted if Adam Mounsey's marker had not been yards offside. The referee had no hesitation awarding a penalty try and Mounsey added another conversion.

Wharfedale: S Gilbert; A Mounsey, C Walker (J Davies, 34-36), D Whitfield, G Smithson; N Heseltine, D Harrison; R Lancaster, J Lawn (capt), N Dickinson, D Lister, P Evans, R Buckroyd, H Verity (S Allen, 41-43), C Vyvyan.

Nottingham: R Bygraves; T Reynolds, J Morley, R Campbell, E Spencer; S Jack (T Rolt, 70), A Royer (capt); M Freer, A Knight, M Lewis, L Jones, M Wright, A Burchill, R Lloyd, M Bradley.

Referee: M Hamlin (RFU).

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