1st XV Match Report - 11th December 2017

On a bright, crisp Remembrance Day, the proceedings commenced with due respect for those fallen in conflicts around the world. For those present, military, ex-military and lay, the quiet of the respectful period of silence and the stillness of the conditions made for a perfect tribute befitting the occasion.

Not wishing to belabour a point, the setting of Goole RFC being more befitting of the wasteland of Gorgoroth, than the mountains of Mordor. No slope to contend with here, no wind to reckon with, just a watery sun, taking it’s time to drop from the autumnal sky. Thus starting in almost summery conditions and on a perfectly flat pitch, the game ended in a dull, decision-less draw and in quite bitter cold. Achieving a third draw in as many weeks may seem like quite some achievement. In fact a draw was probably more deserved in this game than in either of the previous two, in that both sides slogged their hardest, prevented the other from gaining any particular advantage and were as creative as possible at every opportunity. If Ripon had a downside to their game, it was the adverse penalty count from continuing ill-discipline. The key positive however, was their organisation and resilience in defence.

Playing against the much-vaunted Goole back division, Ripon stepped up man for man and showed equally as much pace, guile and enterprise that their counterparts. If anything was lacking in this solid team performance, it was the impact of the Ripon scrum and ever present forward dominance. Goole to their credit, faced up to the scrum well and showed good pace and fitness in their pack, which challenged Ripon to an extent at the set piece and in the loose.

Drawing on the current talent pool again, Ripon rang the changes with the reintroduction of Guy Watkinson at Fly Half, Tom Graham and Tom Newby at Centre, Rob Harrison at Full Back and a welcome return to Colt Charlie Britton at Lock. Whilst all have participated in the squad’s games so far this season, there was perhaps an element of imbalance in the pack, which needs to be worked on through training. Starting the game with Newcombe, Britton and Curry on the bench showed a clear intent to assert forward dominance. This however, Ripon were unfortunately not able to do. The scrum worked well enough, but didn’t dominate as in previous weeks and the line out was effective enough, but with the opposition benignly defending, options soon ran out and penalties soon arose.

With no advantage from landscape or weather, Ripon kicked off and saw Findlay hit the catcher with perfect precision and Watkinson follow up deftly. This set the scene for these two as Findlay made a complete nuisance of himself all over the park – making good yards in attack and competing effectively for the ball at the breakdown. Watkinson stepped up in defence to control his channel well and showed great poise and flair in attack, more often than not seeking the right option. With deft handling as well as net chips and grub kicks, Watkinson showed maturity and control of the game and long may that continue.

Once the hosts regrouped from the initial Ripon onslaught, they settled into a purple patch of sustained attacks and repeated penalty advantages from Ripon indiscretions. Not confident in taking the long-range goal kicks, Goole showed a weakness in their touch kick – line out strategy. With Barker sacking pretty much every catch and drive attempt, this was soon becoming a non-starter.

With both sides testing each other and punishing mistakes, it was the hosts who benefitted territorially from the penalty count, but not on the scoreboard. Ripon on the contrary, showed solidarity and great communications in defence. With the first quarter score-less, the game was getting more tense by the minute and the pressure to break the deadlock was increasing. At 27 minutes, a well-controlled passage of play took Ripon up to the home 22 metre line and the opportunity for a penalty kick to touch. Nicholson’s catch gave the pack the necessary platform to trundle forwards towards the Goole line. Repeated hammer balls saw the Ripon forwards ease closer and closer until Dalby plunged over for Barker to touch down to open the scoring. Amidst the high fives and back slaps, it was impossible to see who exactly made the final touch, but skipper Barker claiming accreditation, was just reward for his leadership. Patrick Whitaker added the conversion to take the score to 0 – 7.

Goole hit back straight away from the restart and within moments were forcing Ripon into unnecessary errors and further penalties. Two touch kicks saw the hosts attempt to drive from the line outs and again Barker did his best to arrest their progress. From the second line out, the Goole backs recovered the ball quickly enough to spin it right with sufficient width to create an opening for their Centres to carve a gap in the defence and score the equalising try on the 34-minute mark. The conversion from in front of the posts went over with ease to tie the score at 7 – 7 with half time looming.

The second half seemed to last an eternity for both sides with little reward for valiant efforts. With Whitaker adding a penalty goal after eight minutes and the second equalising penalty goal by Goole at 24 minutes, neither side looked like coming close to scoring any more tries. This was not through lack of enterprise or skill on either side, but through dogged defence and commitment to stop the other team playing.
Losing Newby and Charlie Britton through injury was sad, particularly with Britton’s impact in broken play. The rest of the squad pulled together however and showed fortitude and courage through to the end. With the final whistle heralding a third draw in succession, one could be forgiven for feeling rather flat. However, there is much to take away from this Ripon performance, particularly in the defensive organisation.

Next Saturday, Ripon travel to Barnsley for the quarter final of the newly configured Yorkshire Silver Trophy Competition. Having already despatched Barnsley in the first of two league games, this will be a test of the home side’s resilience and Ripon’s thirst for victory. Kick off at Shaw Lane at 2.15, all supporters continue to be very welcome.