Ripon’s second encounter of the season with West Yorkshire rivals Keighley, faired somewhat worse than the Yorkshire Shield match back in August and resulted in their most crushing defeat for many months. Unlike in the same fixture last season, Ripon were unable to compete sufficiently and consistently enough to make any impression on the scoreboard. Individual efforts abounded and a reasonable line out and scrum, delivered their fair share of useable ball, but Keighley comprehensively snuffed out any of Ripon’s attacking chances.

Starting a bit awkwardly; from warm up to kick off, Ripon weren’t quite sure how many players they were going to field. Difficulties with player’s long distance travel arrangements as well as difficulties navigating the local topography, resulted in Ripon taking to the field with only two replacements, one of whom commenced his warm up after the game started. Notwithstanding issues that arise once reliance on public transport and satnav technology are acknowledged as key factors beyond normal control, the disruption this caused Ripon must have impacted on their ability to enter the game with the right attitude.

That said, in glorious sunshine, Keighley kicked off to Rob Nicholson, who gratefully scythed his way through the opposition to make a full 30 metres. There followed a few phases of forward orientated pick and go play from the tackle and at this early point it looked like Ripon were serious contenders. Unfortunately the support wasn’t close enough to clean up the final breakdown and the subsequent turnover set the tone for much of the rest of the game. At the two minute mark, the home side used their re-possession well to push towards the Ripon line. A handling error gave Ripon the put in to a defensive five metre scrum, which Keighley duly knocked them off. The ball was spun wide to give the Keighley backs an easy run in for their first converted try at three minutes.

From the ensuing restart, the visitors offended and gave Keighley a chance to push back into visitor’s territory. The line out from the touch kick was a formality for Keighley and their predictable catch and drive saw them make several yards before releasing their backs to run in the second try on the opposite wing. Joe Duffield’s last ditch tackle was judged too high by the referee and Ripon suffered the indignity of being a player short and being 12 points down within five minutes

Using the power play to good effect, Keighley created another overlap and ran in a further try at 12 minutes and then another at 20 minutes, this one converted.

At 24 – 0 down at the end of the first quarter, it seemed that Ripon were in danger of caving in. On the contrary, the visitors regrouped and created some workable opportunities to test the home defence. The line out worked well and scrabbled, but useable ball was coming from the scrums and so there were chances for the likes of Newby and Euan Findlay to set off on some probing runs. Also, in probably the best of his few 1st XV outings, Charlie Yates was stoic in his tackling and general disruption of the opposition’s plans. These efforts as well as through the rest of the team, saw the scoreboard for the rest of the first half remain unaltered.

The second half saw Keighley gifted possession from a poor clearance kick and within five minutes the home team added to their scores with a further try. Despite any valiant efforts by individuals, Ripon simply couldn’t get into a focused team mode in the second half and saw a further four ties run in by their hosts, two of which were converted, to no reply.

A sad statistic of the game was that in the first half, Ripon got no further than the Keighley 10 metre line in attack and in the second half, only got inside the home side’s 22 metre area once. Keighley on the contrary, scored every time they got inside the Ripon 22 metre area and it’s that type of clinical finishing that was the key difference between the two sides. The other difference was the sheer physicality of the Keighley team, who seemed to be well conditioned in all positions and therefore difficult to stop in full flow.

This weekend Ripon enjoy a home fixture against Moortown, with a clear objective to win and get themselves out of the current place before it’s too late. The match kicks off at 3.00pm and players will be meeting at 1.45pm, all support is very welcome as always.