Wath opened brightly against seasoned Yorkshire 1 campaigners Beverley. Dominating the early possession, they were able to give debutant, winger Matt Jenkins the ball in a bit of space and he showed power and pace to beat two men and score under the posts. Whitlam added the conversion and the home side a 7-0 lead inside 10 minutes.
Remaining in control the Wath side moved the ball through several phases before finding centre Pat Selkirk with room to touch down near the corner. With Whitlam’s magnificent kick from the touchline, his side went further ahead 14-0, with a quarter of the game gone.
Despite further pressure Wath were unable to add to their score and gradually Beverley got into the game with a series of quick offloads and good support play. Stretching the Wath defence wide several times they forced a mismatch with their backs against Wath forwards and used their pace to exploit their advantage and score a try. The missed conversion made the score 14-5, after half an hour.
Regaining control Wath forced a penalty in a kickable position and Whitlam again, made no mistake to put Wath 17-5 after 40 minutes. In injury time Beverley gained a line out in the Wath 22 and a successful catch and drive proved unstoppable and they scored their second try. Another missed conversion meant the score was 17-10 as the referee blew for half time.
An early attack by Wath was thwarted by a desperate last - minute tackle on Jenkins and an ensuing line out close to the Beverley try line saw the Wath catch and drive defended well. For the majority of the second half the quick backs of the away side were a constant threat to the Wath defence. Despite the loss of captain Sean Hopper with 20 minutes due to injury, his side battled manfully, twice holding up their opponents over the try line.
In a scoreless second half both sides missed a penalty and despite an extended period under pressure Wath, displaying great team spirit, held on for a hard-fought victory, 17-10. With 4 wins out of 4 in September Wath have made an outstanding start to the season following promotion.
Next Saturday they will face their sternest test so far, with a long, away trip to play league leaders, North Ribblesdale.
Steve