Finally, the hugely anticipated first league in 18 months had arrived. 2 teams on a bus trip away in the mullet popular rolling hills of Wensleydale.
The Wetherby team stepped off the bus with a great buzz of excitement, although it was hard to tell if this was just from listening to bad boy chiller crew for the majority of the bus trip.
The 1st team kicked off on the perfectly flat Wensleydale pitch. First points of the day came when a strong scrum set the platform for the backs to work some magic and set Aidy Connelly free down the right hand side, with plenty still to do the young winger weaved his way under the sticks. Joey Smith added the extras. 7-0
Wetherby found them selves under pressure from the following kickoff, eventually giving away a penalty in a very kick able position. 7-3
The first 15 minutes of the game were a fair contest, huge collisions coming in from both sides with Freddie Watson having the ability to look like he is sauntering but still leaving a mangled corpse in his wake.
After some even scrums in the first 20 Bradley Mason finally decided to show the opposition prop the true meaning of mong strength. Folding him so far he could see the back of his own head.
Some good phase work in the oppositions half led to the next try, Myles Oates’ drawing and weaving managed to put Steve Hoather in some space. With only the 5th best mullet on the pitch trying to stop him he managed to dot down in the corner. Conversion narrowly missed. 12-3
Whilst Jack Kaye could be heard telling the debutants in the 2nd XV how fast he is, Aidy was busy getting himself on the scoresheet again.
Half time: 19-3.
The second half started with a period of sustained pressure from Wensleydale. The defensive effort was massive. Big lads Will (naked) Palombo and James Carson were fighting it out to get office bragging rights as biggest hitter. Wensleydale found it harder to get over the Wetherby line than the full Wetherby squad dressed as wrestlers did to get into Wetherspoons later that night.
After Rob Adair unleashed some of his new dad strength on the opposition ruck Wetherby were finally able to get out of their own half with a penalty kick.
Following another strong Wetherby scrum Joey spotted some space in behind the defensive line. Harry Kaye gathered the kick and offloaded for Freddie Watson to bulldozer under the sticks. 26-3.
Finishers Sean Whitelow, Jonny Day and Will Blakey came off the bench to take advantage of tired legs.
Wetherby really showed dominance now. Another scrum near the Wensleydale line ended with Jarrod Oates getting his name up in lights. 33-3
The last try of the day came when Steve’s slightly more handsome cousin Evan Woodworth actually managed to get one of his wonder passes into the hands of whistle enthusiast Will Palombo. 40-3
MOTM- Bradley Mason, this guy can scrum.
DOTD- Sean Whitelow (twice) once for losing a tickle fight. Again for downing a pint like a border collie
Massive first performance, Wath at home next week followed by a night of WKD’s
MATCH REPORT BY GEORGE GILBERT