"The Black Country turned out to be an eerily prophetic venue for Saturday's match: it was frustrating to under-perform against opponents fuelled by motivation rather than technical accomplishment.

For Jerry Bill, speaker of the local dialect - and former player of both teams - who had made a dedicated journey from Ireland for the first ever league encounter between the clubs, there must have been a similar sense of dissatisfaction. It was a scrappy affair, dominated by a difficult wind, which both teams failed to conquer, strewn with error, and liberally punctuated by a concerto on the whistle.

In sharp contrast to previous seasons in the league above, Dudley now represents the longest away trip. The contrast is illustrated by the fact that it required the team to leave 20 hours later than the corresp-onding journey last season, though the rigours of the trip were still sufficient to condemn Raymond Lee to an unfortunate bout of travel sickness. Few other human experiences have been as successful in rendering him speechless.

Unlike the interminable Saturday night motorway journeys from the Thames Valley, playing at Dudley scarcely interrupted the social calendar. It allowed Adrian Bateson to return in time to feed his animals and Martin Armstrong to benefit from the full range of social attractions available to young people on a Saturday night in Workington. Mark Bowman was able to return to his pastoral role as Penrith's principal publican, despite having attended the game in a sartorial selection more appropriate to the captain of a golf club than a rugby team.

He approaches the twin terrors of middle age and middle class armed with a Pringle sweater in pastel shades: it would have attracted derision from my predecessor in equal measure to his developing habit of positioning himself on the wing.

The game was not without its high points. Dave Preston once more produced thoughtful positioning and silky handling skills to link together Armstrong's break with Luke Ladell's finish for our first try.

Simon Mulholland had a promising debut, and Billy Coxon's elusive running was at its very best, impressing everyone except his father.

These, however, have to be set against a sudden porousness in a previously impenetrable defence and an aimlessness in pursuing kicks that nullified the advantage of the wind. Unlike recent weeks, we found ourselves chasing the game, and demonstrated how easy it is to look tactically inept in doing so.

Unwittingly, we contributed to an important win for Dudley, elevating them from the relegation zone, and condemning both Preston and Liverpool to an unseemly scrap against the drop.

Despite the convivial welcome of the Black Country, and Jerry's legacy, it would be unfortunate to lose long-standing opponents, high quality venues and local derbies.

However, with forthcoming games against unbeaten Waterloo, closely followed by Halifax, we have our own problems to address."