1st XV Match Report – Yorkshire Silver Trophy

Mallorie Park look more like a Sunday than on recent Saturdays as three home games graced the hallowed turf, with crowds of spectators to match and in glorious weather conditions. A great day for the club in being able to field three teams and whilst the achievement of a “Blue Rinse” was just out of reach, two out of three results went the right way for Ripon, with first and second XVs winning well.

Ripon 1st XV, with some further changes to the line-up, eased their way into the second round of the Yorkshire Silver Trophy by beating Old Grovians in their second encounter of the season. There may be critics of this new look competition, which essentially sees all of the Yorkshire Division Two sides playing again in a knock out to see who goes through to the national competition next year. However, another win is another win and such games are opportunities to both experiment with players and have a chance at winning some silverware.

A slightly rearranged Ripon back line saw the reintroduction of Jason “Marathon Man” Bell, to put in a solid shift at Full Back and Callum Findlay guesting on the Right Wing. The pack saw a reshuffle of the same personnel, with Newcombe locking out the Second Row and the back row featuring two Nicholson brothers and the other Findlay.

Ripon kicked off and in pressing the visitors deep into their half, over-egged the first breakdown to be judged off side at the ruck, giving Grovians a penalty clearance kick within 30 seconds of the game starting. The kick failed to find touch and Bell returned play with interest, attacking deep into the visitor’s half again. From the tackle, an attempt to spin the ball quickly to the left saw a miscommunication and an interception by the Grovians Centre, who launched an attack that carried them 60 metres to touch down and open the scoring. The conversion gave the visitors the lead at 0 - 7 within two minutes of play.

The next few minutes saw the Blues build up some solid attacking phases and through forcing touch kicks out of defence and winning good line out ball, progressed up to the Grovians’ five metre line. The fourth line out in succession didn’t however go Ripon’s way and the visitors were let off the hook and able to clear their lines again.

Undeterred, Ripon continued to pressure the visitors and with a strengthening scrum, looked to deny Grovians any quality first phase possession. On 13 minutes, a solid scrum gave Tom Graham just the platform from which to strike and run in unopposed from 20 metres out, to open the scoring for Ripon. Richard Scull, usually reliable at this distance and angle, narrowly missed the conversion, to leave Ripon trailing 5 – 7.

From the restart, Grovians pressured Ripon into an off side, which allowed them to extend their lead to 5 – 10, with a sitting duck penalty goal from in front of the posts. In virtually identical circumstances from Ripon’s restart, a similar indiscretion, gave Richard Scull the chance to make amends and slot over a penalty goal to take the score to 8 – 10.

The early loss of the Grovians’ Hooker, who was yellow carded for repeatedly killing the ball at the tackle, gave Ripon an opportunity to dominate the scrums and limit the opposition’s options on their put in. A more cohesive pattern of play then developed from Ripon, with some phases making good ground. Too many errors however, prevented the possession from turning into points. Grovians too, defended well and were challenged in their attacks by similar errors. On the half hour mark, a scrum awarded to Ripon caused some consternation to the visitors, who were immediately penalised for dissent. Scull added the penalty goal to nudge Ripon into the lead for the first time at 11 – 10. Towards the end of the half another penalty goal was narrowly missed by Scull after a strong break by Euan Findlay ended just short of the line and the visitors felt the need to hold up play illegally to prevent the inevitable try.

Ripon’s persistence and perseverance finally paid off on the stroke of half time when Ripon smashed a Grovians attack and Rob Nicholson pounced on the loose ball to evade all would be tacklers and dash in 40 metres to score Ripon’s second try. Scull made no mistake of the conversion to take the score into the break at 18 – 10.

In a similar start to the second half, Ripon pressed from the kick off and hassled the defence into making mistakes. Looking more confident with ball in hand, Ripon attacked again and through Scull made some good yardage into the Grovians half. Ever-present Euan Findlay was on hand to carry on the movement and scamper over for Ripon’s third try. Scull, now in the groove with his kicking added the conversion to take the score to 25 – 10.

Undeterred, Grovians fought back and through forcing unnecessary penalties, worked their way up the pitch with successive touch kicks and line outs. On the 11th minute of the half, quick ball from the third successive line out win, saw a strike out wide for Grovians second try, which went unconverted to take the score to 25 – 15.

At 18 minutes, Ripon bounced back again and through a scything break by Leeming, took play back to the visitors. Scull carried on the attack to slip the ball on deftly to Rob Nicholson, who ran in for his second and Ripon’s fourth try of the day. Scull added a further two points to push Ripon up to 32 – 15 and seemingly put the game out of sight.

Again, Grovians dug deep and caught Ripon on the hop from the restart with a rapid attack and a further try to narrow the score to 32 – 20. Within five minutes, Grovians were fighting tenaciously for survival and putting Ripon under real pressure. As the game went into the final quarter, Grovians attacked again from a line out in the Ripon 22 metre area, driving strongly to pile over for their fourth try of the game, with the conversion narrowing the gap further to 32 – 27.

Despite the late onslaught, Ripon gathered their composure and got better organised in both defence and attack. Scull took the opportunity to further extend the home lead to 35 – 27. That turned out to be the final score of the game, with the last ten minutes being a slogging match between both sides determined not to let the other gain any more points.

A strong and nail-biting finish by both teams, with commiserations to Old Grovians for their valiant performance and congratulations to Ripon for their progress through to the second round. Not so much “cup fever gripping Ripon”, but a sense of achievement from a squad that did what it needed to on the day. The season is still young and there are many more games to play, but Ripon are starting to look like a side that takes itself more seriously and can turn in a solid performance when a win is needed.

Next Saturday, Ripon travel to North Leeds to play Roundhegians in what promises to be another close fought encounter. Kick off 3.00pm, all support welcome.