Northallerton 20 Wath 19

Wath players and supporters made an early start for their visit to Northallerton to play the team one place above them in the league and with a score to settle as Wath had put an end to their long unbeaten run.

Both teams took time to adapt to the strong, blustery wind, but Wath were first to strike through scrum half, Joe Bartlett, after 10 minutes. Jack Whitlam was left with a difficult conversion in the conditions but added the extra points to give the visitors a 0-7 lead.

The home team took control and, on 20 minutes, replied with a try of their own. The conversion was missed and Wath kept the lead 5-7. In a see saw battle Wath scored next. Following excellent play by both forwards and backs, Tom Swift crashed over the line for a fine try. The conversion drifted wide, but on half an hour Wath were 5-12 up.

Northallerton replied with another unconverted try and the half time score stood at 10-12. Continuing their good teamwork into the second half, the home team took the lead 20-12 with two more unconverted tries going into the last quarter.

Wath raised their game and were able to dominate the closing stages. An opportunist try under the posts from acting scrum half, Jack Jewell, enabled Whitlam to close the gap to one point: 20-19. In the difficult conditions Wath had a couple of penalty chances to snatch the win but, unfortunately, time ran out and Northallerton held on to the closest of victories.

Steve Corns