Stour started well and appeared in control with power to add, but from the half hour mark they misfired all the way to the finish line, an unlikely defeat to the Dalesmen not beyond the bounds of possibility until a late Luke White penalty secured victory.

There were few changes from the Stour side that had faced Sale the week before. The versatile Chris Easton starting at fullback, with Sam Wilkes at hooker. Captain Ciaran Moore stepped up to 2nd row with Billy Harding operating from the flank, pushing Nick Murphy to the bench and Nigel Mukarati to no.8. The bench also saw a welcome return from injury for Josh Trinham.

Stour kicked off to a Wharfedale side that showed immediate intent by throwing the ball around in their own 22 but lost it forward in contact. Referee Alex Thomas spotted flanker Rob Baldwin offside at the resulting scrum giving White a simple knock-over to open the scoring. 4min 3-0.

Wharfedale were penalised again from the restart, White hoofing the ball to touch in their half from where Stour launched another set of drives. Moore broke through the fringe defences but was pulled down just short, scrum half Ben Tibbetts moved the ball quickly to Harding whose cut-out pass found Mukarati in space to cross unhindered in the corner. White landed a difficult conversion. 8min 10-0.
Wharfedale outside half James Guy hit back straight from the restart though when Stour conceded a soft penalty for chasing a clearance kick from an offside position. 9min 10-3. Wharfedale continued to throw the ball about and worked a promising overlap down the right flank that was only snuffed out by Tibbetts’ cover tackle. Back came Stour, an attack reaching the Wharfedale 22 before a tackler was penalised for not rolling away allowing White’s goalkick to re-establish a 10-point lead. 19min 13-3. With both sides’ defences comfortably containing their opponents’ attacks the goalkicking route was taken again when Wharfedale were penalised for side entry. 26min 16-3.

A Stour attack was halted when Wharfedale drove the support runners off the ball, they countered with a chip that bounced cruelly to evade the grasp of Easton. Wharfedale raced clear but were halted by determined Stour cover at the cost of a 5m attacking scrum from which scrum half Will Lawn broke through to score. 31min 16-8. Guy was unable to convert and – as Stour’s error count started to mount - compounded the error by missing a long range penalty attempt on the stroke of halftime.

The 2nd half was to prove a scrappy, error-strewn affair, despite ideal conditions neither side able to sustain pressure to threaten their opponents’ line and all too frequently resorting to a kicking game. There was no shortage of endeavour on either side but a lack of precision in execution resulted in a stop-start affair. With 15min to go Wharfedale lost a 2nd prop to injury to take the scrums uncontested, Baldwin also finding himself back on the bench when yellow-carded for a slowing the ball down. Facing 13 men Stour smelt blood and kicked for the corner, but to several puzzled expressions Mr Thomas allowed a Wharfedale replacement on and they repelled the attack. White uncharacteristically pushed a straightforward penalty kick wide but made amends shortly after. Full time 19-8, Stour now lying 5th in the National 2 North table.

Next week Stour make the trip up to Manchester to take on 3rd placed Sedgley Park who suffered their first defeat last weekend. Stourbridge Lions are at home taking on Walsall in a top-of-the-table clash in Midlands 2 West (N).