On one of the best days of weather for rugby in memory, Wetherby kicked off against a strong Dinnington side who arrived with 21 players. Wetherby had a number of notable returnees including Benedict R and Max S and a debut this season for Fergus D. Even with these additional players, due to injuries and absences, Wetherby were still down to 14 players so Dinnington, in the spirit of the game, lent us a player to keep that match balanced.

The game started off in a lively fashion with Dinnington applying a lot of early pressure. Within 5 minutes Wetherby were 7 points down after some solid phases in play culminating in a backs try. The next 10 minutes or so saw Dinnington camped in the Wetherby half and when Ben H retired due to a carpet burns on his knees, Dinnington forced the ball over for another score. Things were looking ominous.

But Wetherby have never been a team to give in and a great try saving tackle by Max S playing full back gave our lads a renewed energy. More resolute defence was to follow from Wetherby with some desperate kicking to clear the lines but still struggling to get out of our half. Harrison D was then forced to come off sustaining a recurrence of his knee injury. Dinnington secured another try but following the kick off and subsequent line out Wetherby had a cheeky change in strategy and threw to the back, this paid off and Wetherby got some decent ball in the Dinnington half.

Ben R then fed Jayden O’G a great pass that saw him run rings around his team mates and score under the posts - 21-7.

Paul G took advantage of this success and embarked on a mazy run down the left wing which bamboozled the position. Once tackled well in the Dinnington half, Tom M took over and drove at the heart of the Dinnington defence. Unfortunately his team mates were so unused to being this far up the field that they weren’t anywhere near to avoid a solid counter ruck by Dinnington and again Wetherby lost possession.

Sam W and Dan of Dinnington were now wearing the red and white hoops and certainly looked like they were putting 100% effort in which was great to see however, fatigue was setting in for the 13 players that had been on the pitch since the start and Dinnington ran in a number of additional tries. Eventually Wetherby were forced down to 14 players as Ben S went off with a blister on his heel and decided he’d eat his pack up in the dug out instead.

One final push by the Wetherby attack saw them in the Dinnington try line for the last few minutes of the game but failed to get the ball over. The ref had seen enough and blew up.

Overall a game that was played in outstanding spirit by all and Dinnington yet again should be proud of their players and their sporting attitude.

Final score 7 - 53

Referee: Roger Stocker
Match Report: Jonathan Hirst