A beautiful autumnal day greeted both supporters and players alike to Brantingham Park, in what was arguably the N2N tie of the day. With two clubs with recent N1 pedigree, two sides looking to make an early impression at the top of the table and a fierce rivalry with scores to settle,( Ionians win at Threshfield the last time the sides met condemning Dale to relegation ), it should have been a cracker. It wasn’t.
The match was too predictable, too premeditated and at times too pedestrian. The home team had an over reliance on an outstanding rear guard, was indebted to a grafting performance from the back row and thankful for the pace and power of the mid field. The propensity to give the ball away, especially in contact, is becoming as expected as it is worrying and is giving the opposition every opportunity to test the exemplary defence.
Wharfedale were guilty of not making possession pay; playing into Ionians hands by over using the pugnacious Burridge close to the breakdown and trying to barrel through the mid-field via Rhys Lovegrove, who got no change at all from Messrs Tinknell and Minikin. They looked most dangerous when the ball was worked out wide where they profited from a brace of tries by winger Hamilton.
It was therefore no surprise that the score at the interval was 3 – 0, Lewis Minikin converting a penalty on the half hour. Neither side had looked especially capable of opening the scoring in a cagey opening quarter, ‘dale then laid siege to the Ionians try line but during 10 minutes of concerted pressure they managed to cross the line once, only to be held up. Toni Kuku stole the ball at the breakdown to allow the ball to be cleared up field and finally lift the blockade.
The pattern established in the first half continued in the opening exchanges of the second period until Wharfedale scored a try that led to a 15 minute flurry of activity, resulting in three further tries.
Dale worked the ball deep into the home 22, Burridge had a barge for the line from the base of a scrum before lively scrum-half, Sam Gaudie, threw the ball across into midfield, with more than a suspicion of blocking ‘dale created an overlap and Hamilton went over unimpeded. The try went unconverted but Wharfedale had taken the lead, 3-5.
Ionians hit back within minutes; turn-over ball was popped up to Tinknell and he powered through the first line of defence before being held, a neat offload to the supporting Kuku put him away to score and a well judged kick from the touchline by Minikin put Ionians back in the lead at 10 -5.
This brought an immediate response from the visitors who swung their attack across the field and back, Hamilton chased his own kick ahead and had the fortune of the bounce to drop on the ball to claim his second try. Mann slotted over the conversion to give the advantage to Dale.
Wharfedale set about extending the lead. Helped by a succession of penalties they pushed Ionians back into their own half until an unfortunate mix up led to the ball being spilled and Minikin was onto it in an instant. All the dejected dalesmen could do was admire a clean pair of heals as Minikin raced 60m to cross over under the posts and then tag on the goal.
The hosts had a nervous 12 minutes left, but much of the fight had gone out of the visitors and Ionians saw the game to conclusion without further mishap. Minikin rubbed salt into the wounds with a penalty late in the game to deny the unfortunate visitors of a losing bonus point.