In taking the short trip around the Yorkshire motorway network to Castleford, Ripon decided on a team bus to ensure the players arrived suitably relaxed for the encounter. Caught out previously by the home side’s passion at the previous fixture back in October at Mallorie Park, Ripon were keen to ensure that they were prepared for everything that currently struggling Castleford could throw at them. The journey was uneventful, the welcome at the venue hospitable, the conditions were ok for the time of year if a bit soggy underfoot, the game was hard fought at times, but the result was an overwhelming and long awaited, five-point victory for Ripon.

With a further five changes from the previous week’s squad, some again at very short notice, the team was bolstered by the addition of Tom Beaumont debuting after a promising season in the 2nd XV so far and new signing Anthony Rumis from National League 3 outfit Billingham. Beaumont at Full Back performed steadily and in a game that was not conducive to counter attacking from deep, was instrumental in maintaining a clean sheet for the team for the first time this season. A feat that has put Ripon’s points difference closer again to a positive balance. Rumis came on and off intermittently at Lock during the game and with his size and athleticism, immediately made a mark on the line out and sustained the accustomed scrum dominance. Back in the frame at Scrum Half was Jack Baker and Jack Stiddard experienced a well-deserved start and a full 80 minutes at Loose Head Prop. Recalled also were Dalby after a short absence to reclaim his position at Tight Head Prop and Peter Taylor selflessly offering his services on the bench to bring the squad up to full strength.

In conditions that became more boggy by the minute, perhaps Castleford attempted to play the more expansive game, with little to contest the power of Ripon’s rampant forwards. Thus, the home side sought to test the Ripon defence with frequent probing kicks and some quite well orchestrated counter attacks, based on scrambled possession. Ripon, for the most part, chose route one as the main direction of travel. Serious wet work by the forwards, launched from an again dominant scrum and an increasingly more efficient line out, saw countless back row moves from the scrum, “pick and goes” from the ruck base and “Kiwis” in open play. Despite dogged defensive work by the hosts and some, at times questionable methods of stopping players, Ripon pieced together numerous phases of quality possession to lead them to a six try bonanza win, to no points conceded. Not perfect by any means, but a solid display of team work; a great testament to the strength in depth of the club to keep new players coming through and huge indictment of the impact that the coaching team are having on player skills and confidence.

Regarding the standard of play, it’s probably safe to say that Castleford’s count of three yellow cards to Ripon’s one, was an indication of how the home team may have let their frustrations with their lot affect their playing values. Thankfully for the majority of the game, Ripon held true to their sporting ideals and played the game without resorting to transgressions of the laws. Admittedly frustrations can creep into a game, but it is most pleasing to note that Ripon can rise above most provocation and focus on stamping their authority on games for the right reasons and in the right ways.

Ripon received the initial kick off and Barker made no mistake of his first touch of the ball. Feeding Robinson, the effervescent Flanker eluded two or three tackles to take Ripon up to the half way line and in a position to progress the counter attack. A number of close order moves, recycling the ball successfully and taking opportunist breaks, saw a quick feed from McRobert playing out of position at Inside Centre, feed Harry Cleary to aggressively burst through for Ripon’s first try at 3 minutes. Tombling was successful with his first of six conversion attempts. Castleford countered strongly from the restart and held the visitors in midfield for a while. The next scoring opportunity came at 10 minutes with a penalty goal from Tim Tombling.

For the next fifteen minutes or so, the home side did their best to stretch the visitors’ capability across the field and at the 20-minute mark pressed the Ripon line on three occasions and were then unfortunate to miss a penalty goal that might have kept them in the running. Ripon recovered quickly from that phase and pushed the game back into the home half. At 23 minutes after a the first of many attempts to ground the ball over the opposition’s line, Ripon were awarded a five metre scrum. Trundling the opposition out of the way, Walker made no mistake of the touch down to increase the lead for Ripon, with Tombling adding the conversion to take the score to 0 - 17.

Ripon sought to steadily build on their successful ball winning platforms and again used their successful close order play to gain ground. Key in these exchanges were new boy Stiddard, who carried successfully on numerous occasions and was actually held up on three potentially try scoring occasions during the game; Dom Dalby, returning to the fold after a short lay off, tackled like a demon and also carried aggressively and Skipper Adam Newcombe, again playing more like a Flanker than a Hooker, popping up all over the place to carry on the attacks and enforce the discipline in the team. In the backs, Baker played a steady game at Scrum Half, coolly doing so knowing that his predecessor in that position and assistant coach Jake McRobert was filling in at Inside Centre for the game. Buckley and Fearn made the most of the limited possession they received during the game, but turned in emphatic defensive performances with nobody getting past them.

The first half continued dramatically into its closing minutes with another ungrounded Ripon carry over and another 5 metre scrum. This time the referee agreed that the Castleford attempted wheel and break was illegal and despite Walker’s touch down, awarded a penalty try under the posts. Tombling added the conversion on the stroke of half time to close the scoring at 0 – 24.

In slightly less rainy conditions, with emerging sunlight and a reducing headwind, Ripon kicked off the second half like they meant it and sought to build on the forward dominance and keep playing a tight game until safe to release the backs. The best laid plans of mice and men however went awry on this occasion, when after only four minutes of the second half, the home team used up all of their front row replacements and so followed 36 minutes of uncontested scrums. To say this put Ripon slightly off course is an understatement, in that the key objective of the second half was to use the forward dominance to launch more attacking options. With uncontested scrums, any attacking advantage was lost due to quickly breaking back row players and flat line defences not having to retreat. That said, Ripon still progressed with their repertoire of back row moves and continually kept the hosts on the back foot for a while.

At 12 minutes into the half, Ripon again assaulted the home line and Stiddard was twice held up by stout defence. Using every method possible, Castleford repeatedly got out of difficult situations and despite having three players yellow carded throughout the game, defended gamely and threatened where they could. Further pressure on the home line saw yet another 5 metre scrum. This time, rather than a back row move, the ball went out a couple of phases. Callum Findlay added his pace to the attack to increase the score to 0 – 29, the conversion just out of Tombling’s range.

The final quarter saw a significant resurgence from the hosts, with repeated attempts to counter attack and spoil Ripon’s possession. Again it was the forwards who took control and again it was Stiddard who presented himself for the big carry opportunities. At the 26-minute stage, Stiddard made a spectacular drive of over 20 metres and through clever offloading, released Jake McRobert for the next try. Tombling unlucky with the conversion again.

Castleford again looked to counter and harassed Ripon into making a few errors. The way the Ripon players responded to the threats was intelligent and mature and so the home team never managed to gather sufficient momentum to get on the scoreboard. The final nail in the home side’s coffin came just before full time. Closing in on the home line, numerous Ripon forwards clattered and barged against the defence. It was however Dom Dalby who closed the try count for Ripon, with a one metre plunge over the line. Tombling recovered his momentary lapse in kicking form to add the conversion and close the scoreboard at 0 – 41 and the prospect of a relaxing coach journey home.

Next week, Ripon take a well-earned break from league action and return in earnest with a home game against Old Grovians, who are currently enjoying a period of strength, on Saturday 5th March. Support from players and spectators for the intervening 2nd and 3rd XV games will as always, be much appreciated. Kick offs for home and away games remain at 2.15pm until the end of March.