Moortown 5 Huddersfield YMCA 31 (HT 5-7)
Yorkshire Two
Admission: £2 (including 12pp programme)
Attendance: 70 (h/c)

Hardly a contest to linger in the memory. Moss Valley was a mudbath for the visit of the league leaders, who were flattered by their margin of victory in a dour struggle. YM scored two tries, the first converted, in the last five minutes to leave a depleted Moortown side with little to show for a hardworking display in swampy conditions.

There wasn't much between the teams during a first half which saw YM cross for a converted try in the opening two minutes. Town steadied themselves and replied with a try of their own after 22 minutes. The hosts might have led at the break, but their kicker struck a post with a straightforward 20-metre penalty in the 15th minute.

YM's bigger forwards dominated the second half and the visitors scored tries from a scrum pushover and a rolling maul before adding that late double, against opposition then reduced by injuries to 14 men, thereby securing a valuable bonus point.

Most rugby union set-ups indicate clubs in the sport have a fair amount of money behind them. Moortown, whose ground is actually in Alwoodley, on the north side of Leeds's outer ring road, appear to be an exception. Their facilities are a bit, well, tatty. They seem short of personnel, on and off the field. Several players had cried off late, to the audible annoyance of the coach, and there was no-one to produce the requisite matchday insert in the programme, open the club shop or provide scoreboard updates.

The bar, changing rooms and a squash club are located on the south side, which boasts a stretch of raised hardstanding. A post and rail barrier separates players from spectators only on this side and at the west end. The pitch slopes down markedly towards the clubhouse. There are floodlights on the south touchline, but these are probably used merely at training. There was a game taking place on the (equally heavy) football pitch adjacent to the rugby's north touchline. I was told Alwoodley were hosting Trinity and All Saints in what looked like a parks-standard fixture.

Moortown's Moss Valley ground has a promising setting, tucked away in a semi-rural location amid 1930s semis, but I found its nuts and bolts less than appealing. Maybe the weather - persistent light rain and resolutely granite skies - influenced my verdict.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/feversham/5418715999/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/feversham/5419315904/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/feversham/5419317616/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/feversham/5418712983/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/feversham/5418711423/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/feversham/5418714789/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/feversham/5418715351/

Weds 16th Feb: WELSH PREM - GLAMORGAN WANDS. 13 CARDIFF 29

ADM: £10 Prog: £2 ATT: h/c 240
As for the game well as expected 'Caerdydd' won comfortably enough by four tries to one in the muddy conditions but at the third time of asking at least t'wuz game on. The one surprise for me was considering the local proximity of both sides I expected a larger crowd? The Welsh clearly love their national side but club rugby evidently struggles to attract a reasonable gate.