With March “coming in like a lion”, the cold snap and deluges of snow and rain, thankfully stopped short of reducing Mallorie Park to it primordial origins. A pitch inspection early on Saturday morning judged the playing surface sufficiently stable for a game, but not exactly conducive to festival Rugby and allowed the fixture to proceed. Expecting a similarly eagerly contested game as the reverse fixture back in November, Ripon looked to retain as near a stable side as possible to get some team spirit going. As go the best laid plans of mice and men…

The bulk of the team pretty much selected itself based on previous weeks’ performances. The forwards however saw the recall of Dom Butler on the back row and a recall for Ashley Plant after a couple of weeks off. Britton remained in the frame starting on the bench and new signing Rumis started for his first full game. The back line also, remained slightly unsettled with Jake McRobert starting in his third different position in as many weeks at Full Back. A welcome return also went to student Joe Rowntree, on the bench as utility back cover. No serious worries however, with in form Jimmy McDaniel at Scrum Half and Mark Spilman returning at Inside Centre, there looked to be plenty of opportunities to be creative and make ground in the backs.

In a game that saw little in the way of give or take from either side, Ripon were happy to settle for the home win and four essential league points and Old Grovians a very well deserved losing bonus point for their narrow defeat. No severe criticism to either side would be deserved apart from perhaps for Ripon’s lack of composure in “must score” situations. The visitors to their credit matched Ripon pretty much in every department and the game was more one of attrition than attacking flair, though Ripon did seem to gain more breakthroughs than the opposition, yet the score-line of one try apiece spoke volumes of opportunities that went begging. Ripon to their credit, came upon perhaps the strongest scrummaging side for many weeks now and had to rethink quickly how best to use the attacking platform. Ripon’s line out had seen better days recently, but a steady stream of useable ball came forth and Rumis and Barker were towers of strength in securing their own throw in.

The much celebrated and therefore much vaunted forward power for which Grovians have been noted recently; apart from stifling Ripon’s forward momentum in the scrums, did little to contest the break down or provide consistent attacking options. Ripon however, used Skipper Newcombe and Butler to great effect in making the short yards. Longer breakthroughs were also welcome from Euan Findlay and Dom Dalby, who found himself uncharacteristically in open space after a 30 metre burst at one point.

Apart from the initial attack from the visitors from a fumbled kick-off, which saw them nearly scoring after seconds, there were few try scoring chances for Old Grovians and obviously, a limited number of opportunities for Ripon. The key difference between the teams was Ripon’s defence in the second half, which effectively shut out everything the opposition had to offer and calmly took their point scoring opportunities with two well struck penalty goals from Tim Tombling and no scores in return.

So, in a low scoring game, in bitterly cold and very cloggy conditions, there were few notable events to write about. Critical in the going forward parts were Newcombe and Spilman in their commitment to doing the wet work and gaining the hard yards. The back three of Buckley, Leeming and McRobert; fielded kicks and returned them with interest, tackled heroically and used their pace effectively when given the opportunity to counter attack.

Tim Tombling played a different kind of game this week by getting more involved in first up tackling to reduce the opposition’s attacking options, as well as kicking three out of five attempts at goal to roll up the necessary points on the scoreboard, as well as build on Ripon’s positive points difference for the season to 367 for and 334 against. Another position that Ripon hasn’t been in for a number of seasons and a firm consolidation at seventh place in Yorkshire Division Two.

From the kick off, a mis-communication allowed a visitor’s player to recover the ball and set off a slick move to the right of field, Stout defence by Leeming on the Grovians’ lightning fast Winger and a counter attack by Findlay, averted an embarrassing opening score to the visitors within the first minute of the game. Not letting things settle, Ripon pressed the counter attack into visitor’s territory forcing them to concede the touch kick and line out to Ripon. Thus, with just two minutes played, Barker leapt to control the line out and quick ball saw Spilman make the break to put Cleary and then Leeming into space. Walker then cropped up to add his pace to the attack, before feeding back to Spilman to cross for Ripon’s first and only try of the day. Being slightly wide out to the left wing, Tombling narrowly missed the conversion attempt.

From the restart, Ripon again took the game to the visitors. The heavy conditions led to considerable lack of continuity in play and the opportunities for Ripon to dominate the scrummage game were plenty. Grovians however, were having none of it and the majority of scrums simply went nowhere. Frustrating for both sides, but thankfully both sets of forwards were sensibly alert to the conditions and so collapses and all the carnage that they could bring, were avoided. Ripon kept up their attacking attitude for much of the first quarter, with a close shave coming on the 15-minute mark. Another team combination passing move, saw Leeming make some ground supported by Findlay. Findlay looked to have grounded the ball over the visitor’s line, but the referee adjudged a suitable infringement to award the visitors a five metre scrum put in. From that point the visitors cleared their lines and pressed their way back into Ripon territory.

Just into the second quarter, the unthinkable happened and from an innocuous build up, a missed tackle let in the visitor’s Right Wing for a converted try and the lead for Old Grovians. The rest of the half was effectively shut down by both sides and little in the way of try scoring opportunities was evident. Defensively both sides really upped their game and it really was a situation of who could either beat the stout defence, or make the least mistakes. Ripon’s chance to finish the half with dignity came on the 42nd minute, with a welcome penalty goal from Tombling to give Ripon an 8 – 7 lead at half time.

The second half saw a number of enterprising attempts by both sides to open up the game. Sadly, the conditions didn’t allow that to happen and neither side could gain any ascendancy in any area of the game sufficiently to create try scoring options. An early opportunity for Tombling to increase the score after three minutes into the second half went awry with a missed penalty goal attempt.

Repeated pressure on the visitor’s line at the end of the third quarter, saw numerous penalty kicks to touch, line outs and successive five metre scrums. It seemed all Ripon at one point, but no score followed. Tombling however broke the deadlock with his second penalty goal of the day and narrowly increased Ripon’s leading margin. Not much else in the way of scoring happened in the rest of the half, apart from Tombling’s third penalty with ten minutes of the match remaining. The rest was a slog. Old Grovians tried everything in their repertoire and Ripon riposted but just couldn’t get into a scoring position.

In summary, a tough game against tough opposition. There will undoubtedly be tougher, but Ripon now know where their strengths and challenges lie and have the will to build on that knowledge to play better and more consistently in their remaining games.

Next week, Ripon remain at home to pick up the postponed fixture against Yorkshire Two second placed side Keighley. Aiming to build on recent successes and creditable team performances, Ripon will look to use their solid forward platform, creative back play and cohesive team defence to give Keighley a well contested game.

Ripon will also be entertaining a touring team from the Midlands next weekend in the form of Dunlop Coventry, who will play a combined 3rd XV/Veterans fixture, so a call to arms goes out to any interested players. Spectators for both will be very welcome as usual and all should note that in deference to the RBS 6 Nations International between England and Wales, kick offs for the home games will be at 2.00pm for this week only. There should therefore be plenty of time for support for the Ripon games as well as a packed clubhouse to watch the England game.