Agreeing the official score at the end of a nail-biting encounter, was the icing on the cake for a few seasoned administrators, keen to ensure that the glory of such an emphatic first win of the season, wasn’t overshadowed by a counting error by the match official. With the Referee signing off a score of 41 – 22 and the rest of the interested parties insisting on a meagre 37 – 20, a compromise was reached between clubs and officials and thus the headline score-line stands.

For those that contributed to the scoreboard, there can be absolutely no doubt that this performance was one in which every point was won fairly and squarely, through the application of a consistently positive attitude; belief in everyone’s ability to play as part of a team and the courage to step up in the face of a huge challenge. As easy as Coach Peter Taylor’s “ABC speech” before the game, Ripon rose to the challenge and still with an average age of just 24, the team showed not only an emphatic endorsement of the current policy to play Under 18s in adult teams, but also, what the team can do when everyone applies themselves. No bleating here, we play with what we have and everyone who wears the jersey is proud to do so and deserves their place.

There were welcome additions to the squad this week of experience from Hooks and Spilman in midfield, making the right decisions and controlling the hotly contested open ground, with clever kicking and handling in attack and solid tackling in defence. There were welcome additions of youthful exuberance from Jack Baker at Scrum Half and Harry Cleary on the right Wing, making their debuts in Yorkshire Two after a couple of highly encouraging outings in the 2nd XV. Both of whom showed a level of maturity and courage way beyond their years and demonstrated physical strength and electrifying pace as well as precision handling. Definitely ones to watch for the future. Continuing to extol the virtues of individuals, each of the Findlay brothers deserve a mention; Euan for his tireless industry in ruining everything Moortown tried to do at Flanker and Callum, out of position on the Left Wing, showing pace and flair in attack and aggression in defence. Again a credit to the club’s youth system and the ability to retain talented players and keep them suitably motivated to give their best every time they play. Without wishing to prolong the accolades like an award winning speech and recognising where we are in the season, the final word and apologies for anyone else who was worthy of a mention, your time will come; must go to Sam Britton. Playing in a more natural Back Row position for the first time this season, Sam used his speed and guile to great effect, both in attack and defence and was at the heart of so many breakdowns in play that could have gone either way, securing Ripon ball to keep the team in the driving seat.

Moortown presented a side not entirely dissimilar from previous encounters, so any rumours of depletions to their ranks seemed overrated. With a powerful scrum and a very well organised, even if it did sound a bit like “painting by numbers”, forward game, the visitors sought to exert as much pressure as they could on the first phase encounters and did so to good effect. The Ripon scrum, which seems alarmingly consistent in its ability to go backwards faster than forwards, was probably the worst element of the game, but one that yielded through Sam Britton, a decent supply of useable ball. The line out was less shaky and apart from a purple patch towards the end of the first half with three lineouts lost to the opposition, it too presented a good supply of ball for the Ripon backs to show speed, skills, creativity and determination to score.

The visitors used their hefty forwards to good effect in moving the ball through phases, but Ripon’s defence got organised, communicated effectively and did its best to snuff out their opportunities to score. That said, a final score-line of five tries to three, shows that the defence could do with a bit of a tweak, but having the same players in the squad more than two weeks in succession should help with bonding, communications and understanding.

To the point of this narrative and the appropriate recognition of those that made their contributions to the scoreboard. Richard Hooks at Fly Half showed mastery with the boot both from hand as well as place kicking, with three conversions and two penalties to his credit.

The first half was a pretty dour affair with both sides sizing each other up. The Ripon scrum was creaking from the outset and within three minutes an offence gave the visitors the opportunity to kick for territory. The line out saw a predictable catch and drive and only a try saving tackle by Callum Findlay kept the scoreboard clean. At ten minutes, a similar situation arose and from a penalty line out, the catch and drive by Moortown progressed some twenty metres before a knock on at the base of a visitor’s ruck was missed by the Referee and try was awarded, the conversion attempt fortunately drifting wide. Some lively exchanges followed in which Moortown probed through backs and forwards and Ripon defended resolutely. At eighteen minutes into the game, Ripon pressed as far as a line out on the visitor’s five metre line, but a miscommunication saw the pressure relieved. At thirty minutes, Ben Buckley was cynically taken out of an attacking move, which saw the Moortown Number 8 yellow carded and Hooks offered his first penalty attempt, which went over with ease.

The next few minutes were all Ripon, with probing runs and driving play pushing Moortown onto the back foot. At 35 minutes, with Moortown offered a 5 metre scrum after a defensive touchdown from a long up-field kick, Ripon recovered possession and through the efforts of Spilman, and Cleary, who made some 70 metres progress, passed on to Euan Findlay to cross the line and nudge Ripon in front. Hooks adding the conversion. The remaining minutes of the first half fizzled out for Ripon, with Moortown seeking to keep in touch. Another long probing kick saw a defensive touchdown by Ripon and another 5 metre scrum awarded. Moortown need no second invitation to trundle over the line, with their Number 8 scoring from the pushover.

The second half promised to be entertaining, with a score line of 10 – 12 Ripon knew that serious application of training and game plans, as well as use of instinct, had to be brought into play. So from the kick off, a superb hanging kick from Hooks caused sufficient confusion for the recipients to hand the ball back to Ripon, for Newby to break right, bring Cleary into the line from his wing, who floated a perfectly timed pass for Buckley to weave through the last two defenders to score again for Ripon. Hooks was just slightly wide with his conversion attempt.

Not wishing to roll over, Moortown sought to get a grip on the game again and within four minutes of the restart, kicked a penalty to touch deep into the Ripon home territory. The ensuing line out saw a text book catch and drive, which drew an offence from Ripon resulting in Moortown opting for a penalty scrum at 5 metres. The shunt was inevitable and the pushover try awarded to the visitor’s Number 8 a formality. The conversion was agreed as between the posts. Not wishing to let Moortown back into the game, the home team really upped their efforts in defence and showed great cohesion in attack. After not long, the constant sniping and ball retention paid off for Ripon, with another release into space of the young backs, which saw Ben Buckley run in his fourth try of the season. The conversion attempt going wide again.

Moortown again pushed back and using their tactically astute Fly Half and the incisive running of their Full Back, continued to challenge Ripon’s defence. The closest encounter into Ripon’s half, saw a penalty goal attempt converted to keep the scoreboard ticking over in Moortown’s favour. What followed thereafter was what separated the two teams. Ripon seemed to exude energy and commitment and all of a sudden there seemed to be so much to play for. Every tackle counted and every offload resulted in good yards gained. Superb interplay from sustained period of ball retention and recycling, as well as intelligent support play, saw successive tries from Tom Newby and Harry Cleary. With Hooks converting one and adding a further penalty goal on the final whistle, the game was out of sight of the visitors.

Nor perfect by any means, but a true indication of Ripon’s strength of character, belief in themselves and their skills. Plenty to build on for game to come and still plenty of time to find the right balance of team players.

This weekend Ripon are on the road again to Leodiensians, who have suffered similar misfortunes this season so far. A good result against Leos, will put Ripon in a better position to ease their way out of the drop zone. The match kicks off at 3.00pm and players will be meeting at Ripon at 12.45pm, all travelling support is very welcome as always.