Wath Upon Dearne 32, Old Grovians 8

Wath's normal pitch was not available for this Yorkshire Division Two fixture and the alternative pitch was not ideal, having a grass covering that could have been cut for silage, but Old Grovians' first match at this level was to turn out short of the mark.

A few changes had been made bringing in new players for the visitors, who started the game in good spirit playing uphill.

However, after only two minutes, Wath exposed a gap in the back line probably left over from last week, and their centre went through to score under the posts for a converted try.

Old Grovians again took the game to Wath after the restart and pressured them into a few mistakes, allowing them to gain ground for Nathan Barr to comnfortably convert a penalty from 25 yards.

Only quick thinking from Tom Gough prevented a second try but the visitors were pinged for another tackle that the referee deemed high, Wath landing the kick for 10-3.

Wath and Old Grovians then shared possession for the rest of the half, both sides having breakaways that were stopped short by good cover defending.

The home side were quicker to the breakdowns while Old Grovians' forwards competed well, getting plenty of turnover ball, but unfortunately the backs still lacked fluidity in feeding the ball and chasing the kick forward, and Wath scored another try before half-time to make it 15-3.

The second half was much the same and Old Grovians couldn't turn the downhill slope to their advantage.

There were chances from both sides that were stopped by some excellent defending but again mistakes were to be the downfall.

Wath scored again after Old Grovians gave away a second penalty in succession but missed the conversion.

In the 70th minute, Old Grovians had their best set of phases and, after some nimble footwork from winger Dean Hogg, he offloaded going down under a tackle to Ollie Pratt, who dived the two yards to ground the ball over the line.

Wath had the final say a few minutes before full-time, however, and, with two missed tackles, they got their fifth try.

On Saturday, Old Grovians host Castleford, the other promoted team from Yorkshire Division Three, at Elm Tree Farm (3pm), with the hosts seeing it as a good opportinity for their first win.