Wharfedale u-17s came to West with a strong reputation, being Yorkshire Cup winners two seasons ago and being regarded for several years as one of the best teams in Yorkshire. West came into the match having lost Alex Ainsley from last year’s Cup Final team, and with Jon Norris and Aaron Myers injured after college matches during the week. With the pack depleted, Andrew Robson and Stephen Short were drafted from the backs into second row and flanker respectively.

The match started, not unusually for West, badly. A penalty conceded almost from the kick-off led to a few minutes of concerted Wharfedale pressure, and eventually enough West defenders were sucked in for the Wharfedale full-back to touch down in the corner. The slow start had again let West down, but, as in the past, they gradually raised their game and began to put their opponents under sustained pressure.

After 20 minutes a successful scrum ten metres out allowed Michael Young to feed a flick pass to Peter Dewhirst coming round on the blind side, and he went over for the equalising try. Five minutes later more good forward play secured possession (the front five were noted and praised by the opposition coach after the game), and Gav Robinson dummied well and deceived the defence to send West into the lead. The strong wind, blowing against West, was making kicking difficult, but Tom Dixon kept his composure to add a penalty a few minutes later, sending West into a 13-5 half-time lead.

With the wind behind them West may have felt they had a clear advantage in the second half, but a battling Wharfedale side soon ruined that illusion. As in the first half, they scored a try within minutes of the kick-off, exploiting space down the wing to run in a second try. West seemed to recover, but then started to tire and find it difficult to get hold off the ball. Wharfedale started to exert strong pressure, and created a few scoring opportunities, only to be thwarted by some poor-decision making on their part, and some determined West tackling. West then reasserted themselves, pushing Wharfedale back, and stretched their lead when Tom Dougherty engineered some space on the wing and ran in under the posts. Tom Dixon converted, and the Wharfedale threat subsided, leaving West to end clear winners by ten points.

After such an exciting and challenging opening match, West now look forward to Sunday’s match away at Moortown, victors over Doncaster in their opening match.