This was a classic case of defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. In a game that Ripon dominated throughout, the home team took play to the visitors, destroyed their scrum and led for most of the 80 minutes. Knowing however, how dangerous the Pontefract back division could be, Ripon just didn’t do quite enough to shut them out completely. Effectively living off scraps for most of the game, Pontefract counter attacked well at pace and out wide, to turn what looked like a certain Ripon victory into a narrow bonus point loss.

Ripon used their scrum and line out to great effect in setting up numerous attacking phases, only to be let down by handling errors, or giving away needless penalties. Despite fielding an unchanged side from the previous week, Ripon’s flow was disrupted early on with the loss of Tombling - yellow carded for an allegedly dangerous tackle at 9 minutes and then Britton with a head wound at around the 10 minute mark. Harry Scurr however, came on for Britton and immediately made an impact, particularly at the breakdown, where he secured a number of turnovers.

Pontefract kicked off and Ripon’s return ended up in touch. The line out throw was judged not straight and so Ripon were gifted an opportunity to show off their scrum strength within the first minute. That they did and shunted the visitors back a good 20 metres before releasing Hockey on one of his now customary charges. From the next phase, the visitors gave away a penalty and Richard Scull opened the scoring for Ripon with a 40 metre penalty goal at 3 minutes. The early pressure started to tell further and another penalty attempt by Scull at 8 minutes was narrowly missed.

Seeking an advantage from the loss of Tombling, Pontefract exploited a penalty opportunity and took a quick tap to move the ball quickly to their backs. Finding a gap at Full Back, the visitor’s try was a simple run in. Fortunately the conversion went wide and that concluded Pontefract’s scoring for the half.

During the next 10 minutes, Ripon launched attack after attack and sound defence, kept them away from the visitor’s line. At 21 minutes, a Ripon scrum on the left touch line on their own 10 metre line saw Scull feed back to James Audsley-Beck, who came in from his wing and scythed through the opposition to sprint a full 50 metres to enable Ripon to take the lead. Scull added the conversion.

Ripon continued to wear down the opposition with more attacking phases and were just unlucky not to be able to finish off moves effectively. The final score of the half was a penalty goal by Scull at 29 minutes and the half went on to conclude with Ripon very much in the driving seat at 13 – 5.

The second half started with Ripon just as dominant up front and after three successive destructive scrums, it seemed inevitable that further score would follow. However, at 6 minutes into the half, an uncharacteristic error at a breakdown saw the visitors turn over possession and through quick hands, their Right Wing broke free to wrong-foot the defence and touch down for a converted try.

Ripon slowly rebuilt their momentum and from a penalty touch kick on 15 minutes, set up a mighty driving maul. Executed perfectly, the Ripon pack trundled 20 metres for Marcus Hockey to touch down. A fitting reward for his efforts in his last game for the club before setting off travelling. Scull narrowly missed the conversion attempt. Five minutes later a further penalty goal attempt was missed by Scull.

At 24 minutes, Pontefract pounced on another turnover opportunity and again countered with devastating pace and great passing, to put the Right Wing in for his second try, which went unconverted, but narrowed the score to 18 – 17.

Ripon’s “get out of jail” moment came at the 30 minute mark with a penalty touch kick. From the line out, the planned catch and drive didn’t materialise as the defence stepped away to tackle the maul. Seeing no opposition on landing, Jonty Lister took the initiative and crashed over from 5 metres to increase the score to 23 – 17. Not out of the woods by any means, but Ripon renewed their efforts and stepped up their driving forward game.

Despite sterling efforts by the Ripon pack and with great interplay though half backs McAra and Scull, the killer blow came at 36 minutes with a Pontefract turnover. Again the ball was shifted wide at pace and again Ripon had no answer to the lighting strike. With a touch down between the posts, the conversion was a formality and cruelly Pontefract went into the lead at 23 – 24. Ripon did everything they could to score in the final minutes, but simply couldn’t break the deadlock.

No disgrace by any means, but still some areas for development within the team. A good all round performance from Ripon that showed why they are firmly established in fourth place and happy to go head to head with the league leaders.

Next week, Ripon travel to league leaders Moortown, with a clear aim to press home any advantages gained from their forward dominance to create more scoring opportunities. All support welcome as usual and a reminder that kick off will be at 3.00pm.