It was a dreadful day for constructive rugby with the teams going off for 15 mins during the first half due to the extreme weather.
Driffield had to make more changes because of injury. Maka and Mewburn were injured and Saddler unavailable. Consequently McClarren was in the centre with Stephenson and Parker was open side flanker. Pratt played on the wing. Pettinger, Binnington and Lawrence were on the bench.
For the first 10 mins it was all Driffield with the forwards driving well and it was only little mistakes which stopped them scoring. No 7 J Boatman was yellow carded for West on 15 mins and soon after Driffield mounted some concerted attacks which ended with fly half Black making a half break and slipping an inside pass to backing up hooker Brumfield to score near the posts. Furbank converted. D 7 – WH 0.
It was at this juncture that the heavy rain squall struck. The rain was coming horizontally down the pitch and the referee had no choice but to take the players into the changing rooms. The light was also very bad and there was some doubt whether the game could continue. However, things brightened up and the game re-started.
The almost inevitable rolling maul try by the opposition took place after a penalty kick to the corner, but the conversion was not added leaving the half time score D 7 – WH 5.
Black had been injured earlier and Furbank had to take over at fly half, moving up from full back. This allowed Lawrence to make his league debut in very difficult conditions. Binnington also came on for Cooper and Pettinger for Waterhouse at prop.
Driffield then attacked in the West half for some time, but good tackling and understandable mistakes in the conditions conspired to frustrate any scores. A penalty was missed, but the onslaught continued and an unusual try in the conditions now was achieved by Furbank. He picked up a difficult ball from a kick ahead from West and then ran 40 m to outflank the defence and score a very good individual try, but missed the difficult conversion. D 12 – WH 5.
West immediately came back and after some strong running by their forwards they released the ball to right wing Butcher to go over near the corner. The conversion was missed. D 12 – WH 10. The game was poised on a knife edge with both packs running at each other but tough tackling kept the scoring chances down. The referee deemed that Driffield were to blame on a number of occasions as the game crept to the final whistle and awarded West plenty of penalties. Still the Driffield defence held and the home spectators anticipated a well deserved win.
There was one more twist in the tail. A final penalty was given and this time instead on running at the Driff defence, West decided to kick for goal. Mallinson succeeded and the final whistle blew. The frustration on the faces of the Driffield team was evident as they left the field. Two consecutive games had been lost to the last move of the game, when in a winning position.
Wonderful spirit was shown by the Driffield pack and no more so than second rower Douglas. His appetite for the game was enormous, his tackling immense and he obtained ball in the line out at number 2. He cannot be used to playing in such conditions.
It would be churlish to criticise any player considering the weather and both sides must take great credit for the way they stuck to the task. Many spectators could say that tactically Driff were naive, but it was not an easy day to perform to a plan. Perhaps more use of the boot to take play back into the West half would have been beneficial.
Flanker J Boatman was lucky to stay on the field. After an earlier yellow card he then carried out a blatant obstruction well off the ball, which the referee did not see. But perhaps it is a sign of a good flanker to play always on the edge and get away with it!
A bonus point was achieved, but it could have easily been four points. What the game did show was the fine spirit in the side. With a mounting injury list, this campaign is becoming very tense, let us hope that in the next few weeks the side obtain the results they deserve.