A distinctly un-delusional Ripon played host to a far from ordinary Bradford Salem side and very nearly upset the apple cart for the West Yorkshire high flyers. In superb conditions for running rugby, the two sides looked evenly matched in terms of physicality and with new signings debuting for both teams, it looked to be an exciting encounter from the start.

Throughout the game, the set piece generally went with the put in and both sides were pretty much able to retain possession constructively from the breakdowns. It was however the incisiveness of the Salem Fly Half, who was instrumental in creating space for his backs to use their pace to outstrip Ripon three tries to nil in the first half. Where Ripon kept in touch was through dogged determination to fight back from every setback and work hard for each other to prevent Salem from running away with the game. If it wasn’t for Salem’s indiscipline that led to two yellow cards, they may well have increased their scoring chances. We will never know, but what did show, was that Ripon did react to the power-play situation and managed to edge up the scoreboard when faced with fourteen men.

Ripon had an opportunity to open the scoring at 8 minutes when sustained pressure from their kick off presented a penalty goal attempt to Ken Davey, who was slightly wide of the mark. The first half saw Salem then exploit their ability to create overlaps however and run in three tries, two conversions and a penalty goal. Ripon replied with Bob Whitaker taking over kicking duties to slot two penalty goals to turn around 6 – 22 down. Ripon’s only near try scoring opportunity came from an interception by Sam Britton, defending his 22 metre line and sprinting two thirds of the pitch before behind hauled down from behind. Hearing hindered by his scrum cap, he was clearly unaware of the supporting players either side.

Undeterred, the home team rallied from the second half kick-off and yet were punished for some creative passing with an audacious interception that saw Salem increase their lead with a further bonus point try and conversion. Sparked into life, Ripon attacked from the restart and pressured Salem into defending their line and at 8 minutes into the half a Whitaker pass to Ashley Plant to easily score was deliberately knocked on by a defender, cruelly denying Plant his moment of glory, but resulting in a penalty try. Whitaker calmly added the two points.

For the remainder of the second half, Ripon played a far more decisive and expansive game and the addition of Jimmy McDaniel to the team at Scrum Half made for some electrifying breaks and phases of inter play. Further tries ensued from a tireless Joe Duffield, ever threatening in the counter attack and a cheeky steal from the base of a defensive ruck by Bob Whitaker with a try and conversion, taking his personal points tally of the day to 17. Salem added a further two penalty goals to keep a reasonable gap in the scores. The icing on the cake for Ripon however came in the last minute of the game when Number 8 Stead broke from a scrum deep in the Ripon 22 metre area and fed fellow holiday maker Joe Mpyana to use his blistering pace to run a full 70 metres for the last score of the game. Whitaker couldn’t quite make the conversion to narrow the gap further, but losing by three points and gaining two vital league points, Ripon feel in a far better place than they were recently.

This weekend Ripon are on the road again, with a visit to mid-table Keighley and with only one point between the two teams, an awful lot to play for. With further changes in the team likely again, the consolation is that most of the squad contenders have now played or trained together at some point, so some great positives will be carried forward into this game. Team spirit continues to grow and the social aspects of the club are encouraging bigger home crowds and livelier Saturday nights. Next fixture: Ripon 1st XV away at Keighley Saturday 18th October, kick off 3.00pm, players meet at Ripon 12.15pm. All support is very welcome.