Wath 38 Dinnington 8

Following the mid- week freeze it took a morning pitch inspection before it was decided the re-arranged game at home to Dinnington could go ahead. Despite Wath’s good win and their opponents big loss the previous Saturday, the home team were aware their visitors would be no walkover.
With a strong wind blowing across the pitch, rain in the air and heavy conditions underfoot it always threatened to be difficult to produce attractive free flowing rugby. Unusually, Wath started slowly and conceded a kickable penalty after 5 minutes. Dinnington took their opportunity and gained a 0-3 lead.
Gradually Wath began to dominate territory and following an intense period of pressure their forwards proved too strong at a 5 metre scrum and No.8, Joe Earp carried over. The difficult conversion was unsuccessful but after 15 minutes the home side were in front 5-3.
Wath remained on top but Dinnington defended manfully. It took until the 30 minute mark for their next score when the away side conceded a penalty try in the attempt to stop a Wath maul crossing the line. The score moved to 12-3.
The game was held up for a serious injury to Wath second row Arran Tasker. Forced from the field he was later found to have suffered a broken ankle. Despite changes Wath continued to have the better of things and following several rucks the backs moved the ball wide for winger Rory Anderson to coast in for a try. That was in the 40th minute and Wath went into the break 17-3.
Wath extended their lead 10 minutes into second half when they made a good break on right and created quick ball for their backs who handled well, to move the ball back to the left, giving full back Adam Clark, space to run in for a try from the 22 metre line and secure his teams bonus point .Jack Whitlam landed the tricky conversion and the home side went 24 – 3 in front.
With the unhelpful conditions the game became littered with errors but Dinnington were able to gain some possession near the Wath line. Defending well they eventually were able to work their way downfield and a quick pass to winger Alex Roebuck gave him time to brush off a tackler and his “go faster, white boots”, raced under the posts from 40 metres. Another successful Whitlam kick put Wath further ahead 31-3 , with 10 minutes to go.
The away side again were able to apply some pressure and were rewarded with a try with 5 minutes left, reducing the arrears to 31- 8. The Wath team did have the last word as Joe Bartlett, making a cameo performance at scrum half, dummied from a maul, made ground and offloaded to prop Anthony Hamilton who carried several defenders over the line to score. Whitlam’s conversion was the last play of the match and Wath had a slightly flattering 38-8 win.
A solid performance in testing conditions led to a convincing score line which put Wath back on top of Yorkshire 2. This Saturday they host Yarnbury who are third in the league and bound to provide a stiff test of Wath’s promotion credentials.
This week Prop Ant Hamilton was awarded Man of Steel for his powerful scrummaging and being in the right place at the right time after 80 minutes. (-10 minutes for a yellow card).
Steve
Pres.