Wharfedale v Coventry preview and results round up.

This Saturday 5th March Coventry visit Wharfedale for the first time in their history, at their picturesque ground at Threshfield in the Dales, kick off 3pm. Wharfedale, founded in 1923, have former England International John Spencer as long standing President.

Last season Wharfedale finished 6^th in NL1, and are presently in 10^th position one place behind Coventry but 6 points behind, with a game in hand. Under head coach Tom McGee Dale currently have 8 wins and 11 losses.  After beating Cambridge at home 3 weeks ago, they have since lost heavily away to Macclesfield and London Scottish. Despite that they have a strong pack and in having the league’s 3rd leading goal kicker, Tom Davidson they have managed to win some close games.

Players to watch are crowd pleaser No 8 Talite Vaioleti (Jersey), and flanker Dan Solomi. Captain is flanker Rob Baldwin, and other influential players are scrum half Philip Woodhead and winger Simon Horsfall.

Who can forget when the teams last met at BPA, Coventry gave Wharfedale a 22 point lead in the 1^st quarter and then got their act together to win 37-29. Although Coventry did the same trick on Saturday against Redruth, it is doubtful that Wharfedale would be so accommodating the 2^nd time around.

Coventry will be going for hat-trick of wins as they are only 2 wins from 5^th place, and will want to put pressure on Tynedale in 7^th position, who are only 2 points ahead of them.

Weekend fixtures 5^th March previews

Blackheath           v      Cambridge

Blaydon                v      Barking

Launceston           v      Macclesfield

London  Scottish   v     Cinderford

Otley                     v     Tynedale

Redruth                 v     Stourbridge

Rosslyn Park         v     Sedgley Park

Wharfedale            v    Coventry

Another full fixture list with 6 of the 8 fixtures impacting on both ends of the table. Whether there will be so many surprising results as last week remain to be seen.

At the top of the table Barking have a difficult away trip to Blaydon, whilst London Scottish face a resurgent Cinderford at home.

Otley will be looking to continue on with their attempt to escape relegation at home to Tynedale, whilst it is must be wins for Redruth and Sedgley Park to put pressure on those teams above them.

Coventry face the difficult away trip to the Dales, but have the added advantage for them that  a win will put them  in sight of a top six finish. Another exciting week of NL1 fixtures is expected with more twists and turns before the end of the season.

Results round up Saturday 26^th February.

Blackheath          33            Launceston    31    

London Scottish  27            Wharfedale      3

Otley                    27            Macclesfield  19

Redruth                31            Coventry        43

Rosslyn Park        28            Blaydon         22

Sedgley Park          3            Barking          24

Stourbridge            0            Cinderford      11

Tynedale               29           Cambridge      17

What a Saturday of surprises, no less than 7 of the ties resulted in bonus points wins. Of the bottom 9 team’s only Sedgley Park were unable to get at least a point from the games. 

At the top of the table Barking and London Scottish continue to go head to head on the same points with only number of wins separating them.

The result of the round must be relegation favourite Otley beating Macclesfield at home and Cinderford getting out of the bottom 3 with beating Stourbridge away.

Tynedale jump to 7^th by beating a fading Cambridge.

Coventry have the best comeback of the day coming from 26-7 down to score 7 tries, in a game of 3 hat-tricks, which must shatter some sort of record. This Coventry win puts them 3 wins ahead of safety and just 2 wins from 5^th place.

Another excellent and nerve wracking set of results making sure this league stays interesting until the end of the season.

Coventry Rugby press release