In the absence of our devoted team manager and talented wordsmith, Bob Champion, the duty of the match report has fallen to another to endeavour to capture the essence of a challenging day of rugby for the Ripon lads. With Ripon placed only 6 points above Sheffield Medics, and with only 3 league games remaining, a win at Old Rishworthians would have significantly enhanced their chances of remaining in Yorkshire 2. So it was that the Ripon boys left the comforts of home to travel the length of Yorkshire on a typical rain drenched spring afternoon. With satnavs powered up and postcodes typed in what could possibly go wrong. Firstly, we discover that one of the young lads selected for the second team got as excited as a teenager at a Bar Mitzvah and jumped into the wrong car and had to be dropped off at Selby roundabout – that reminds me I should really check to see if he got picked up? Secondly, I think some of the TomToms where in fact TimTims and took half our team on a very scenic route of Yorkshire. All this leading to the coaching staff patiently waiting as the clock slowly ticked towards kick off with just over half a team.
With a shortened warm up and finally a full team Ripon received the kick off and set a solid ruck for scrum half Joe Rowntree to box kick out of the 22. The following ricochet off a number of players ended with the referee being hit full in the face with the ball. You could tell it was going to be one of those days. If Ripon’s plan was to start strong then Old Rishworthians was to start even stronger and after a little arm wrestling in midfield one of their centres broke through Ripon’s defence to score. Try converted and Ripon down by 7 points after 7 minutes. The rest of the first half consisted of Ripon winning good lineout or setting a solid scrum only to be let down by their eagerness to win the ball in the loose, which lead to a number of penalties against them. Old Rishworthians capitalised on these errors by running in a further 4 tries, all very well worked. A foot injury to Andy Williamson after 20 minutes (being stepped on by his own captain) saw an eager Elliot Oates take to the field determined to show his pedigree. On removal of Andy’s sock the Ripon Physio remarked that she had not seen such a big red swollen protrusion like that for at least a few weeks. Unfortunately further injuries followed with the Ripon Captain replaced soon after with a very painful twisted sock, sorry I mean ankle, which luckily is not as bad as was originally suspected and should see him back playing in two weeks. Up stepped the ever young Craig Wolloms to take to the field for the last 10 minutes of a half that concluded with Ripon down by 34 point to nil.
What happened in the half time team talk was as mysterious to the coaches as BBCs decision to sack Jeremy Clarkson. Iain Barker stepping up as vice-captain lead a Ripon team that decided to come out and play their style of rugby. What followed was a team that started to play to its strengths and not the oppositions – fancy the coaches not thinking of that one. 10 minutes of patient multiphase build up with a combination of pick and drives and attacking running slowly pushed the strong defence of Old Rishworthians back into their own 22. Finally spotting a gap full back Joe Duffield stepped neatly through the space to offload for Tom Leeming to dive over. The Old Rishworthians defensive line was tested constantly throughout the remaining second half and it took another period of sustained attacking play before Euan Findley finally managed to power though the smallest of gaps to score. With 20 minutes to go Rob Harrison replaced Tom Newby with the hope that fresh legs might break the Old Rishworthians defence. With both teams now taking chances as the game broke up any further scores were denied by desperate last second tackling which led to a final score of 34:10 to the home team.
With the strong performance by Ripon in the second half you can only wonder what may have happened if they had started the game in the fashion they finished it. Old Rishworthians are without doubt a solid defensive team with strong fast attacking players and deserved the win they built in the first 20 minutes of the first half. A mention must go out to young Dom Dalby who played outstanding in his first full game after returning from long term injury. His workload in the scrum and enthusiasm to carry the ball is a great sign for next season. In fairness a number of other players had solid games, but the leadership of Iain Barker after the Captain went off injured showed a player responding to the challenge of responsibility.

With Sheffield Medicals collecting a bonus point against Leos the bottom end of the table looks even tighter as we all go into the last 2 games of the league season. With no league game next week, Head Coach Ian Hassall is hoping for a friendly in order to maintain the momentum and determination that the players showed in the second half. In the after game huddle he reminded players that with only a handful of training sessions left this season they should all show the commitment in attendance so that we can go into the remaining games with an attitude to win. The remaining 2 league games are both at home against Goole and Roundhegians respectively, neither will be easy, and if Ripon wish to remain in Yorkshire 2 then they need to win both. Needless to say the players will make it as stressful/exciting as possible for the coaches and supporters and take it down to the last play in the last game – it wouldn’t be Ripon if they didn’t.