Wath travelled to the league leaders with three players making their 1st team debuts. Alex Roebuck, a 17 year old, started at scrum half and Callum McNally and Callum Elliss, two forwards, on the bench. Before the game started a minutes silence was observed in memory of Malc Wood , a former Wath 1st Team captain, Yorkshire Shield Winner and Life Member, who passed away earlier in the week aged 80.
In surprisingly good conditions following 24 hours of rain, Wath were a match for the home team. However, after 25 minutes, the Wath defence was breached and the Rounhegian’s winger scored wide out. An excellent conversion gave the home team a 7 -0 lead.
Showing great spirit, Wath battled back and were unfortunate when the ball flew out of a scrum uncontrollably and Roundhegians were first to react and score a simple try. The conversion, on 35 minutes, extended the lead to 14-0. Wath dominated the last 5 minutes of the half but, despite going close twice, only came away with a penalty by Jack Whitlam to make the half time score 14 – 3.
A brace of tries early in the second half gave Roundhegians a comfortable lead of 26-3, but Wath refused to give in despite losing two players, Ethan Dyson and Andy Bartlett, to injury. Following an extended period of territorial supremacy, Wath were awarded a penalty try for continued offences by the home team scrum. At 26-10, on 55 minutes, Wath were back in the game.
Roundhegians regained control of the game on 60 minutes when a fortuitous bounce enabled them to find space and score under the posts. Roundhegians moved away to 33-10 and added another 7 points on 70 minutes to make the score 40-7. Another try, from a possible forward pass in the last minute, meant the game ended on a rather flattering 47-10.
Under the leadership of stand in captain, Sean Hopper, who set a great example to his team, Wath had put in a great performance, epitomised by the efforts of winger, Aynsley Williams, who gave a heroic performance in the second row and the return of stalwart, Steve Mason, to help the cause.
Steve Corns