Wibsey need some self belief

10:31am Sunday 2nd November 2008

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Wibsey 5, Old Grovians 43

Wibsey endured a largely frustrating afternoon in this Yorkshire Division Five derby.

“We won nearly all the scrums and line-outs but we seem to lack self-belief, finishing and that killer instinct,” confessed fly half and fixture secretary Dan Horsfall.

“But Matt Holdsworth had a great game on the wing and Jamie Vogel made an impact when he came on in the second half for what was his first game for two years.

“Unfortunately he won’t be available for a few weeks now because of his wedding and honeymoon.”

Wibsey may be second from bottom of the table but Horsfall feels they are in better shape than a year ago.

He said: “We have had a lot of young lads come through in that time such as Paul Collins, Dan Garside and Scott Smith and numbers at training are slowly going back up again.”

Old Grovians are also on the up and centre John Hinchliffe said: “We have two on the coaching staff now whereas a year ago we had no-one.

“Also numbers at training are up from 30 to about 70 but we need a more consistent commitment before we think about putting out a second team.

“For example, when we lost 33-21 at Stanley Rodillians two weeks ago, we had 16 players on the morning of the match but only played with 12 because four cried off at short notice.

“But we are getting all the support we need from Woodhouse Grove School, who let us play all our home matches there, let us use the equipment and even open the bar every time we play there.

“Hence there was no need for us to take up the offer from Bradford & Bingley of playing every alternate week at Wagon Lane.”

Well as Wibsey did in the scrum and line-out, and also through the determined running of Holdsworth and Vogel, Grovians had the key figure in fly half Antony Cadman.

The former Otley and Ilkley playmaker hardly wasted a kick and generally pinned Wibsey back by landing the ball in space.

He could also switch the direction of play with ball in hand and had a solid ally in scrum half James Phillips.

Flanker Jason Greenwood was also an immense nuisance to Wibsey’s plans for dominance and got one of their first-half tries, others coming from prop Pete McNamara and Hincliffe, Cadman adding three conversions and a penalty.

Wibsey’s tackling was often too flimsy and any hopes they had of exploiting wind advantage disappeared when winger Danny Kondras crossed for the visitors three minutes after the restart, Cadman again converting.

Centre Nick Fawcett and lock Matt Kelly added tries for Grovians, Cadman converting one, before Holdsworth got a deserved injury-time try for the hosts after more good work from centre Bryn Worsley.