1st XV Match Report - 21st October 2017

Multi-tasking is a vastly overrated ability, favoured by the female gender and hopelessly unachieved by the male. Read the book “Why men don’t listen and women can’t read maps” by prominent Australian psychologist Allan Pease and you will understand the theory and its practical implication, particularly around multi-tasking. Whatever my genetic construct, I - simply put, can’t do more than one thing at a time and therefore, when faced with the challenge of doing more than that – something has to give. To be fair, the running of touch during this game was impartial, pretty much up to speed and satisfactory to the referee (the sole arbiter of fact on the field). It was however, difficult to keep up with play, indicate touch finds and preferred put ins, as well as dip in and out of separate pockets for time-keeping and note writing. I therefore make an apology for any lack of detail around playing matters.

To make matters worse, the decidedly inclement weather brought about by the lash in the tail from “Storm Brian”, officially acknowledged in the bar as a “Very naughty storm”, and its requirement for note takers to expose their paper and pen for nanoseconds, lest the previously firm writing surface rapidly descend into a tissue paper like consistency. The final distraction though, was the having to “take one for the team” in that Roundhegians had kindly invited up to 6 members of the Ripon committee to a pre-match lunch. Unfortunately because of unavailability of key personnel and maybe poor communications, yours truly, was the only Ripon “official” available to partake in a modest helping of a rather delicious Lasagne and roasted Mediterranean vegetables. Hopefully neither the weather, nor the lunch had any detrimental effect on the running of the line, or the creation of this report. Come back Noddy, all is forgiven and let’s better organise replacements for pre-match lunches?

There was a game. It was not as tasty as the Lasagne by any means, but an away win at Roundhegians is good enough at this stage in the season when Ripon are starting to believe in themselves as a squad and playing for each other as a team.

Notable this week were the continuing presence on merit of Sadler and Wolloms in the front row, to bring experience, guile, weight (I’ll leave the reader to work that one out) and sheer determination to the scrum; the retention of Jason Bell at Full Back for his presence and coolness under pressure and the re-introduction of the enigmatic Bob Whitaker at Scrum Half, to add flair and a no-nonsense control at the base of the scrum.
Further changes saw the debut of Colt Freddie Wright on the Wing and recalls for Josh Wilson, Adam Challis, Jack Newby and a welcome return from injury to both Harry Scurr and Sam Britton to beef up the back row.

The great thing about the current Ripon squad is that perhaps the main reason why the club can’t raise a third team consistently each week, is that there are eighteen 1st XV squad members currently unavailable due to injuries of other commitments, plus as many again other players. This is therefore testament to the strength in depth of the club that so many 2nd XV players can just step into the squad and play their hearts out as it they had always been there.

Overall, the game was marred by the weather, which ironically wasn’t used to full advantage by either side. Neither used the strong end-to-end wind for particular gain and both sides tried probably too hard to play a complicated passing game, when territorial advantage would have offered more chances. Ripon destroyed the home scrum and were unlucky not to have gained more advantage from that dominance. Back row moves faltered and penalty chances went begging. Against a home side that incurred the wrath of the Referee for appealing and questioning decisions too much, Ripon should have blown this game away, but with a solid set piece and sound defence, this performance bodes well for the rest of the season. Ripon’s line out was superb and with skipper Barker’s control and Wollom’s precision throwing, this was a really solid attacking platform.

The hosts kicked off with the wind and set about pinning the Blues in their own half. Ripon however, struck out and through well retained possession, pressed back against the wind. At 6 minutes into the game however, some slick handling by the hosts saw a small gap in the defence exploited to open the scoring with a converted try to open the scoring at 7 – 0.

Ripon attacked the restart effectively enough to confine the hosts into their own half and then force them to give away the first of many penalties for appealing or questioning the Referee’s decisions. Richard Scull stepped up to reduce the deficit to 7 – 3.

From the next restart, Ripon bludgeoned their way back at the opposition with a combination of forward driving mauls and close encounters using Centres Seal and Graham to make the extra yards. At 13 minutes, a 30 metre driving maul saw Ripon’s pack illegally hauled down inches short of the home try line. The Referee had no hesitation in awarding the penalty try and putting Ripon into the lead at 7 – 10.

After more pressure play from Ripon after a home forward was yellow carded for dissent, the next score was added by Scull again with a penalty goal to increase the lead to 7 – 13.
The second quarter however, saw a resurgence of Roundhegians efforts in which they strung together some probing and damaging attacks, which caused Ripon to draw on their energy reserves to defend defiantly. Restricting the host’s attacking options with ball in hand, inevitably had a cost and that came at two further penalty goals to Roundhegians to take the score to 16 -13 at the half time whistle.

The team talk at the break was all about exploiting strengths and eliminating weaknesses. Tragically loosing Scull with a badly broken jaw, Ripon knew that every man needed to up their game and show that they were capable of a solid team effort. Whitaker took over goal kicking duties and didn’t miss any of his chances and Josh Wilson stepped in at 10 to ably keep the back line moving forward in possession and solid in defence.

Ripon restarted the second half well and held the hosts firmly in their half long enough for Whitaker to slot over a penalty at 3 minutes to level the scores at 16 – 16. Then followed a phase of Ripon incrementally exploiting first phase possession with Gary Nicholson ploughing forward from the base of scrums and multi-metre drives from line outs. The only down side was Ripon’s lack of speed to the breakdown, which resulted in too many penalties for holding on when players became isolated.

Ripon’s pressure in possession told again when at fourteen minutes into the half and after two successive scrums and three successive attempts at punching through the defence, Dom Dalby crashed horizontally over the half metre necessary to score Ripon’s second try of the game. Whitaker’s conversion took Ripon comfortably back into the lead to 16 – 23.

The hosts were never going to capitulate and despite having a scrummage with only a reverse gear, fought tenaciously for all other areas of possession and kept finding ways to stifle Ripon’s attacks and create many chances for themselves. At 19 minutes, a host’s attack caught the defence hopping and a penalty for holding on was converted to take the score to 19 – 23 and cause for Ripon to look for another gear.
Whitaker eased the pressure with a further penalty goal at 30 minutes to take the score to 19 – 26, but unexpectedly from the restart, Roundhegians stormed into the Ripon half for a another unconverted try to narrow the gap to 24 – 26.

With ten minutes to go, the hosts threw everything they had at Ripon and to the Blue’s credit, they organised, reorganised and held firm. A counter attack in the dying seconds saw Ripon press deep enough for a further penalty opportunity from Whitaker to take the score-line to 24 – 29. Still winnable for Roundhegians at that point, but unfortunately they ran out of time. Ripon must congratulate themselves on a further successive win, the commitment and belief of so many players and the team spirit to fight to the end. Commiserations to Roundhegians for a loss, which probably only stemmed from their poor scrum. We look forward to the rematch later in the season.

Next Saturday, Ripon entertain Yorkshire Division Two leaders Yarnbury, with every intention of showing them what an in-form Ripon is capable of. Also we all wish Richard Scull a speedy and comfortable recovery from his injury. Kick off 3.00pm, all support welcome.