Match report Sunday 7th March Friendly
Grassington on a bright March afternoon, the remains of snow on the hills and lambs in the field - what a great place for a game of rugby and despite a poor start by Rish, this was a gripping game of rugby that only lacked the excitement of a a try or two from the visiting team.

Old Rishworthians have had few opportunities to play together since Christmas and you'd have mistaken the team for a group of strangers in the first 15 minutes. Despite good possession and territorial advantage early on, the visitors let Wharfedale in for two easy tries in the first half - a spirited comeback saw them dominate the second half, yet they never recovered those early points.

From the kick-off Rish looked dangerous with the forwards winning good loose ball and the backs looking threatening as they started to pass the ball with confidence in good handling conditions. Wharfedale absorbed the pressure and the first time they broke into Rishs half, good lineout ball, a jinking run from their No 10 and poor tackling by Old Rishworthians allowed the home team to run in their first try of the match which was easily converted.

Rishworthians soon had points on the board as they continued to play in Wharfedale's half and Kelly slotted over a penalty. At 7 - 3 Rish were in the game but Wharfedale had a 10-minute spell when they threatened to score each time the ball went to their fast running backs. A clearance kick from Rishs 22 fell to Wharfedale's Full Back and poor tackling allowed him to run in a try out wide. With a little help from the crossbar, Wharfedale converted to stretch their lead to 14 - 3. An infringement by Rish allowed Wharfedale to add three more point but that was the last score of the match and the last time that Wharfedale looked to threaten as Rish got into their stride.

The half ended with Rishs forwards dominating most areas of play with the one exception - the lineout. The visitors back line started to flow with the ball in hand and it was only excellent defensive work that prevented Bottomley from scoring a brace in the corner.

Half Time: Wharfedale 17 - 3 Rishworthians

The second half started as the first had finished with Old Rishworthians playing better rugby and taking the game to Wharfedale. The visitors spent 90% of he second period in the home team's half and despite excellent work by the forwards and increasing fluidity in the backs, Rish could not make the all important break through. Whilst they dominated possession and territory, Wharfedale proved impossible to crack with excellent defensive play that kept Rish out time and time again as the visitors launched attack after attack.

With only 15 travelling players and no subs, Rish were down to 14 players for parts of the second half but continued to play threatening rugby and looked the better team despite the scoreline.

Final Score: Wharfedale 17 - 3 Rishworthians

Man of the Match:

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Team
	1. Fowles	2. Smart	3. Pollard
6. Hope-Collins				7. Broadbent
	4. Brierley		5. Collett
		8. Seleznev
9. Cowey
	10. Ledgard
		12. Hunt-Brown
			13. Kelly P
11. A Watkins				14. Bottomley
		15. Hayes
Subs