Playing in what must be the most atrocious conditions for a long time, Ripon bravely battled for 40 minutes against League leaders Bradford Salem, before letting the home team’s superiority, weight of numbers and sheer exhaustion take the game away from them. Consistency was hard to find in a Ripon side that welcomed back into the fray, Club Stalwart Andy Williamson at Lock and last year’s skipper, Adam Scott Paul, making his one and only appearance of the season at Tight Head Prop. Not that this is about changes to the team, as everyone has to face disruption through injuries and unavailability, this is testament to the dogged determination of a rapidly decreasing pool of players to choose from and the reliance on the strength of Age Grade Rugby to keep producing talented players like the three Under 18s who kept the pack alive on Saturday. Going back to consistency, Ripon did score 8 points for the third week in succession. Unfortunately they weren’t enough to win the game by the now customary three point margin, nor enough to secure a losing bonus point. That said, with Ripon going 8 – 0 up with 20 minutes, it did look like a closer game was set to follow.

On arrival, the hosts were hastily shovelling and sweeping a decent dusting of snow from the pitch. Well, enough to see where the markings should be and helped by a new application of white lines! Thereafter, for the avoidance of doubt, a row of cones was helpfully spread along the touchlines, to show where everyone was. Definitely a situation not helped every time a player shouted for a cone to use as a kicking tee!

Both sides consulted with club and match officials and decided that the pitch was playable and so the game ensued. Thereafter, no moans about the playing conditions apart from the facts that it was very cold for both sides, very wet and slippery for both sides and definitely favoured the home team’s heaver pack, who didn’t have to do too much against Ripon’s scrum to make it back pedal. That said, Ripon were able to clear some scrummage ball through Dud Stead bravely picking from the base and the visitor’s line out definitely irritated their hosts significantly. The key differences between the sides were in Salem’s ability to soak up the pressure and counter attack when safe to do so and exploit their strengths clinically. Thus, a back row move from a forward-marching scrum is more effective that a Number 8 pick-up from a back-pedalling melee and a co-ordinated catch and drive from a won line out, is more effective than a scrabbled “off the top” steal. Hopefully the hosts will be generous enough to admit that it wasn’t all one sided and that the first half saw a determined and spirited Ripon test the hosts at the breakdown as well as out wide. Were it not for the unfortunate string of injuries that saw all of Ripon’s replacements used and then the loss of two further players halfway through the second half, the score may have looked different. That is however just conjecture and an indication of Salem’s quality in that when they were down to 13 players due to sin bin offences, they held their resolve and kept the visitors out of scoring range.

Ripon kicked off the game and were soon able to press the home team into handling errors. Unfortunately, any advantage to be gained from the scrum put in was hastily removed, by Salem unceremoniously shunting Ripon off the ball. This happened at the first two scrums and prompted Ripon to tighten things up. Ripon then started to get the better of the open exchanges with Stead and Scott Paul creating some mighty turnovers to put the team in the ascendancy. At 19 minutes a penalty within range, saw Bob Whitaker slot the kick over for three points. From the restart, Salem looked for a diversionary kick, which didn’t have the desired impression, and allowed Tom Leeming some space to counter-attack. By the narrowest of margins, Leeming evaded some interesting attempts to stop him and managed to chip ahead to bounce the ball into touch near the home 22 metre line. A fine leap by Euan Findlay stole the home side’s thrown in and some penetrative running saw the ball travel first to the left through the forwards and then out wide right, for Ben Buckley to slide into the corner for his third try of the season. The touchline conversion attempt was just outside of Leeming’s range. This spurred Salem into more focused play and through some well co-ordinated attacks, retained possession sufficiently to release their Inside Centre to switch with his Wing on a punishing line to score wide out. The conversion attempt missed, but showed Ripon the threat that the hosts posed.

The last five minutes of the first half were then all Salem, with two further converted tries following on from well organised line out catch and drives. The first was in serious danger of taking down the goal posts, the second slightly wider out, but both well within kicking range. Turning around 19 – 8 down, Ripon still believed they could contain the game sufficiently to come out with some credit.

The second half saw Salem score a further 19 points unopposed, through three tries and two conversions. Not a rout by any means, but a clear indication of the quality of the side and the difference between the top and bottom teams in the League. Salem continued to dominate the scrum, with honours more evenly matched in the lines out and a continuing scrap over the loose ball. However, without Stead and Findlay and with usual back row stalwarts Britton and Scott Paul, playing out of position in the front row, the competition diminished gradually. Scott Paul battled manfully for the most part and made some powerful charges, belying the fact that he hasn’t played or trained for nearly a year. Without a doubt, Ripon’s efforts were severely hampered by the losses of Stead, Duffield and Findlay through their injuries and then Johnson and Yates, who suffered what seemed an unhealthy combination of hypothermia, exhaustion and maybe even frostbite, severe enough to remove them from play for their own safety.

With no chance of scoring any more points, a demoralised, depleted and deflated Ripon, through skipper Newcombe sought to negotiate terms with the referee and hosts and quite rightly so. Amidst cries of “play on” from the Bradford supporters, the decision was taken that as the game had passed the 60 minute mark and Bradford Salem had scored an undeniable bonus point win, the game was concluded before full time, with the result standing. Good luck to Bradford Salem in their pursuit of promotion. They will no doubt be looking at the areas of their game that Ripon disrupted, as should Ripon look to the areas they excelled at to build on for the rest of the season.

The next week sees Ripon play host to mid table Keighley, who will be looking to exploit their strong forwards and free running backs. With yet more difficult selection decisions to come and more changes likely due to further injuries and availability, consistent teamwork is becoming quite a challenge. With the “top four” games out of the way now, there is a however a chance for Ripon to start showing what they are made of, by winning sufficient quality ball to unleash the talented and speedy backline. All support welcome as usual, to come and cheer the side along. Kick off 2.15.