Wharfedale 43 Huddersfield 5

WHARFEDALE’S recent run of good National Two North results continued with a comprehensive bonus-point victory over a disjointed Huddersfield.

Playing down the hill in the first half, Huddersfield soon camped in the home 22 but a succession of attacking line-outs was repulsed by aggressive defence.

A break by Tom Barrett supported by Matty Houghton saw Charlie Graham run in from 20 metre to open the scoring.

In the 18th minute, a catch and drive by Dale saw Kieran Frost driven over and a second conversion by Barrett left Dale 14-0 up at half-time.

In the first minute after the restart, Robbie Davidson carved open the home defence from 40 metres to score under the posts. Further pressure from Dale led to a Barrett penalty and a sniping close-range try by Woodhead.

Despite having plentiful possession, Huddersfield were unable to break the Dale defence, in which James Tyson, Richard Rhodes and Tom Davidson were outstanding.

With Frost and Rhodes dominating the line-out, Huddersfield were unable to capitalise on territory or possession, and simply ran out of ideas.

A turnover in the Dale half led to a blindside break by Woodhead and an exquisite pass to Graham who ran in from halfway for his second try, followed by a further close-range score for replacement Steve Graham. A consolation try for Michael Piper left the final score 43-5.