In a spirited display of guts and sheer determination, Ripon took on Leos on Saturday, in a battle that showed everyone that survival in Yorkshire Two is not only a necessity, but also a reality. In a “once a season”, three wins in a row display, Ripon gradually found their confidence and shape and put together a strong team performance worthy of the bonus point victory. Scoring four tries through mesmerising back play was a credit to the competitiveness of the forwards bolstered by the arrival of new signing Kier Walker at Number 8 and the creativeness of a rearranged back line featuring old and new.

With only a couple of changes from the previous three weeks, Ripon looked like they were gelling well and finally playing as a cohesive team. Walker coming into the squad to replace Dud Stead, was a seamless transition, in that despite starting on the bench, he was soon into the fray and doing a damaging job to the opposition. A second call up for Ripon Colt and Yorkshire Carnegie Academy Scrum Half, Jimmy McDaniel, also allowed for a trouble free replacement for regular number 9 Joe Rowntree. The only other difference from last week’s squad was the late entry of Club stalwart Jason Bell, replacing Rob Harrison on Saturday morning.

Whilst it is upsetting to change the side week after week, however subtly, it is a great indication of the Club’s strength in depth that we have players available and capable of stepping into the breach when needed. Not only stepping into the breach, but also, stepping up to give superb, match winning performances to keep the Club’s hopes alive. Also very encouraging for Ripon was the large and very enthusiastic turn out for the pre-match curtain raiser game of Leos v Ripon at Under 12. Despite the result going the wrong way for Ripon, they pressed this year’s Yorkshire Cup finalists hard for a good while in a well contested game. The players’ and parents’ support for the adult game was much appreciated.

In glorious sunshine and with a stiff breeze blowing end to end, the home side opted to play with the wind and receive the kick off, which Ripon not only managed to put over the 10 metre line, but harried the receivers so hard that they overturned possession to press up-field into home territory. Ripon used the pick and go effectively to sustain several phases of play and keep Leos on the back foot. Closing in on the home line at around the five minute mark, an uncharacteristic ball spillage saw Leos counter and put the ball through sufficient phases themselves to exploit some confusion in midfield. Now on the back foot, Ripon conceded a couple of penalties and were punished for their indiscipline by a penalty to touch deep into their half. The Leos line out catch and drive was a formality and yet despite heroic defence around the fringes, Leos pack had sufficient momentum to carry them over for the first try of the game at 10 minutes, conversion added.

Ripon restarted gamely into the increasingly powerful wind and eventually managed to progress up-field to test the Leos defence further. Again however, a lost ball saw Leos snatch the chance to counter and again some confusion in the melee, saw the home Outside Centre scythe through Ripon to score between the posts on the 20 minute mark. Again the conversion an easy shot. At 14 – 0 down, Ripon knuckled down to a more workmanlike performance to eliminate errors, control the discipline and move up the scoreboard. With their tails up and using the wind to better effect however, Leos pinned Ripon down in their own 22 for a good few minutes until a heroic charge down of a speculative chip from the Leos Scrum Half by skipper Adam Newcombe, saw him collect the ball coolly, step the Winger to make some ground and release Joe Duffield for a 50 metre run in. Legs failing toward the end of the run, Duffield found Tom Leeming on his shoulder, who obliged by plunging over the line for his third try of the season. Leeming stroked the conversion over easily.

After that, the Leos attack was well co-ordinated, powerful and clearly taking advantage of their vastly experienced back row players’ knowledge of the laws of the game. Ripon however, succumbed to the double whammy and double bonus, of losing Joe Duffield at Full Back and Andy Williamson at Lock, who both left the field through injuries, opening the way for Jason Bell and Kier Walker to come on to influence the game. Despite several attempts on behalf of both sides, there was no clear dominance of the game, nor further opportunities to score. The first half ended with the score at 14 – 7.

With the wind in the second half and with a sinking sun to make vision difficult, Ripon set out their store to press at every opportunity. From the kick off, Leos transgressed and allowed a penalty opportunity for McDaniel to use both the element of surprise as well as his blistering pace off the mark, to score a cheeky individual try, which left the defenders wondering what had happened. Tom Leeming stepped to kick the conversion to make this game’s kicking tally 100% at that point and level the scores at 14 – 14 and taking Leeming’s total points tally to 45 for the season.

After a second fluffed restart kick, Leos put themselves under more pressure and apart from one venture close the Ripon line, the rest of the second half was mostly Ripon attacking. The only reason why the score wasn’t significantly higher, was that Ripon’s error rate was still far too high. With another player yellow carded for an avoidable infringement and too many easy scoring options ignored for more complicated attempts, Ripon were their own worst enemies at times. With only four games left, there is a huge opportunity to work on discipline and consistency, as well as the commitment to clinically finish scoring opportunities. The boys must take this positively and we must support them in doing so, by getting numbers to training sessions and continuing to field three sides every Saturday.

Back to the game and perhaps the most entertaining, refreshing and disappointing part of the fixture. Eager to get their noses in front, Ripon played really positively and competed for everything. Walker got into the game well, making big tackles and running the hard yards, sucking in defenders. Euan Findlay was again outstanding at Open Side Flanker, where he tackled demonically, carried effectively and set up attack after attack. At around the 30 minute mark came the darkest moment of the game, when George Foster was “cleared out” from attempting to play the ball from the base of a ruck. Forgive my ignorance, but I did think that action around the ruck needs to involve players’ arms being open to potentially bind and latch on to opponents; for player’s both feet to be on the ground in order to maintain balance and for some sort of attempt to remain on one’s feet at the end of the movement. What removed George from the game and probably for the rest of the season, was what I can only describe as a Kamikaze hit. There have been comments regionally about cynical attempts to remove players from games, and I’m not going there on this one. I do however hope that the person who launched themselves over the ruck to hit George point to point, will consider retraining in how to ruck within the scope of the laws of the game. With a fractured and dislocated shoulder, which must be incredibly painful, playing and working limiting (not to mention school work), we must rely on Fozzy’s resilience and determination to come back from this. At still Under 18, George has shown remarkable maturity, commitment to the Club and incredible potential. We all wish him well for a speedy recovery.

And so to victory and trying not to gloat. The final 15 minutes of the game was dominated by Ripon trying to sort themselves out in respect of which attacking ploy was going to work and which wasn’t. Leos played their part, but didn’t pose a threat to Ripon’s ascendancy and simply made themselves look very ordinary.

That said, Leeming narrowly missed a penalty goal attempt at 32 minutes, but apart from that, the bounce of the ball and refereeing decisions pretty much went Ripon’s way for the duration. From Leeming’s missed penalty, the drop out into the wind didn’t work too well for Leos and was ably fielded by Bell, who surged forwards. From the breakdown, McDaniel hoisted a box kick and a newly invigorated Joe Duffield streaked through the defenders to catch the ball over the line at full stretch to touch down and push Ripon in front for the first time in the game. With less than 10 minutes to go and both sides flagging, Ripon however dug deep and continued their domination of the game. At what everyone thought would be the final whistle, a scrum was awarded to Leos for a Ripon handling error. Ripon, who it’s fair to say have not done terribly well at the scrum this season, turned and disrupted Leos sufficiently for the ball to spill out of the side. Euan Findlay needed no second invitation to scoop up the loose ball to feed Bell coming in on a great line to score the bonus point try. Leeming’s luck had run out with his conversion attempt and so as the ball went dead, the final whistle blew for a well-deserved and hard fought victory for Ripon.

A substantial and gritty performance all round and a well-deserved victory for all of the doubters. A well-deserved rest next week, but no time for complacency as the drive to clear the relegation zone continues.

Another news item worthy of note was the appearance off the bench of former Ripon age grade player, Charlie Capps; in England’s U18 victory over Scotland at the weekend. We all wish him well for a long and prosperous international career.

Next week sees Ripon 1st XV resting, with the 2nd XV travelling up the Dale to take on Wensleydale 1sts in a friendly encounter at which supporters would be very welcome. The next League action is on Saturday 20th March when Ripon play host to a strong Moortown side, who will be looking to finish the season emphatically after their difficult start with a massive points deduction for administrative errors. Hopefully all will be order on that front from now on. As ever, home support will be most welcome and every encouragement for the boys in blue to finish the season on a high note, will be very helpful. Kick offs will be 3.00pm from now on, so more time for house work before the games. Team selections and meet times for this week’s games will be published on the website Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

Oh and don’t forget the harder you practice, the luckier you get. Train hard, play hard, win lots.