If ever there was a case of “Be careful what you wish for”, then this was evident at Mallorie Park on Saturday, with perhaps the power of wishful thinking, overturning the power of a very useful Ripon side in not seeing the game through to an emphatic win. Before a very welcome and vocal crowd of spectators, Ripon played with passion, pride and gusto. The crowd in turn were supportive, encouraging and buoyed the spirit of the team throughout. The visitors Roundhegians for their part accepted all Ripon had to throw at them and then came back strongly in the second half to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Ripon in all fairness, knowing that they needed one solitary league point to avoid relegation, achieved just that. Despite a monumental first half display of power and presence, the home side succumbed to a late resurgence by the visitors, that saw them run in three tries in the second half, including a last gasp converted try in what seemed like the tenth minute of injury time. Thus what looked at half time to be a relatively achievable bonus point victory, turned into a “just enough to get by” defeat. That said, with another close fought game under their belts and with the makings of a consistent squad for next season, a secured place in Yorkshire Division Two, will give the 1st XV squad the launch-pad it desperately needs to take its playing fortunes out of the drop zone and into contention for better things.

Ripon knew that the pressure would be on this game and the players approached the fixture with a maturity and positivity seldom seen in the first half of the season. Training has been well attended and off-field discipline impeccable, considering the youthful profile of the team and the temptations that go along with it. Early nights and sensible diets were the order of the day throughout. So, in perfect conditions for watching and playing, Ripon set out to entertain and reward the commitment of what looked like half of the City’s population for their support. At this point, a massive thank you to all who have been involved in publicising this season’s fame, fortunes and misfortunes. However well or badly we have done, we have received marvellous publicity and standing in the community; long may that continue.

To the game - Ripon received the kick off and set about exploiting opportunities with short balls and intense driving play. Key from the outset were Findlay in the forwards, who took the kick off reception from Sam Britton a full 40 metres up-field and Spilman in the backs, in their ability to break through tackles and move ahead of the gain line. Perhaps a little too fast at times and in danger of being isolated, but the gauntlet was thrown done to Roundhegians to beware and to the rest of the Ripon team; to keep up.

Aiming to play in a way that exploited any scoring potential, Ripon took the lead within eight minutes with two well struck penalty goals by Tom Leeming. An opportunity for the visitors to get on the scoreboard from a rare visit into the Ripon half saw a missed penalty attempt at around the 12 minute mark. Then followed a period of sustained pressure by the visitors, seeking to keep in touch with the home line and at 20 minutes a move that went from one side of the pitch the other, saw Ben Buckley put in a try saving tackle in the corner. Unable to clear effectively through a partially functioning line out, Ripon probably put themselves under more pressure than necessary and took longer than expected to take play out of their half. At 24 minutes and running out of defensive options Ripon conceded a penalty and lost Spilman to a yellow card for seemingly playing the ball from a tackle legally, but allowing the visitors to open their scoring with a penalty goal.

Ripon restarted long into the wind and through Findlay’s attention to the catcher, pushed the visitors close to their own line. Sustained pressure on the scrambling defence allowed Ripon a third penalty chance, but Leeming misread the wind slightly, to just miss the upright. Undeterred, Ripon retained possession well from the drop out and continued in the vein of short runs, offloads and pick and drives before releasing the backs. At 39 minutes the plan paid off when Findlay erupted from a mass of defenders to feed Spilman, who bounced his opposite number out of the way to release Tom Newby, for what seems like his furthest carry in weeks. Newby ran with balance to evade a couple of defenders to put Ben Buckley away for a 30 metre dash for the line and his seventh try of the season. Leeming made no mistake of the conversion attempt to take his personal points tally to 74 (this season’s 1st XV record) in only 15 games in his first ever Rugby season.

The second half was essentially one of “who blinks first”. With both sides depleted in numbers due to offences, the power play situation shifted a couple of times, but it was mainly the visitors with more players on the field at any one time and so that showed through to the final result. That said, the loss of Mark Spilman to a second yellow and thus a red card for what didn’t seem to be an offence at all as the Referee allowed the visitors to do the same type of thing unimpeded, was a cruel blow and left everyone dumbfounded. From the controversial incident, Roundhegians took the penalty goal to make the scores 13 – 6.

Keen not to let the visitors get the better of the numbers advantage, Ripon pressured Roundhegians into numerous penalty situations and pressed their way up-field. At 15 minutes into the half Ripon took the scrum option after a messy line out and Joe Rowntree exploited the blind side to scamper in for his second try in successive weeks. Leeming missed the touchline conversion attempt, but Ripon felt as if they were still in charge. Two successive yellow cards to the visitors evened up the player deficit for pretty much the rest of the normal playing time of the half. Even with an against the run of play score from Roundhegians at 22 minutes, where they took a penalty kick to touch and the line out catch and drive was a formality; Ripon looked comfortably in control. So heading towards the dying minutes of the game, Ripon were left clinging to an 18 – 11 lead. All that was needed was one point from this game, so what could possibly go wrong? Had the score-line remained the same at full time, then a four point win to Ripon and a losing bonus point defeat to Roundhegians would have been recorded. However, by some strange quirk of fate or maybe even a shift of some sort of time-space continuum happened, but either way, the referee’s watch seemed to stop. With no time left on the clock, a sin-binned visitors’ player was allowed to return to play and from the scrum restart they quickly recycled some hurried possession, to release their speedy Right Wing to outpace the stunned Ripon defence for an unconverted try. With the score at 18 – 16, Ripon were gracious enough to allow the bonus point defeat for the visitors and with what must at that point have been absolutely no time left, restarted the game expecting the final whistle at any moment.

Alas, with Roundhegians determined to win at all costs and Ripon continually nonplussed by refereeing decisions, the stopwatch seemingly unstoppable, the death knell for the home side was cruelly dealt by Roundhegians by a final try to push the scoreboard to 18 – 21. Thus a nail-biting finale was brought to a close and the curtain fell on Ripon’s season, safe in the division, but with plenty to build on.

With the league season well and truly over, it is now time for the players to sit back and lick their wounds, maybe for a week or so. There is still a buzz within the Club that as a whole it is aiming to consolidate the league status and avoid successive years’ scrambles to survive and try and consistently field three teams. With top notch playing facilities and the newly refurbished clubhouse as well as a committee committed to driving the Club forwards, the off season will see some rebuilding of premises, an introduction of some new Under 18s to adult Rugby as well as attempts to beef up the playing strength in all abilities. Behind the scenes, efforts continue to add to the coaching team and the possibility of securing the services of an experienced player coach continues to be explored.

Two key events remain to conclude the winding down of the season officially – the Club Dinner is on Friday 24th April at the Club House, tickets available at 12.50 from Team Captains; the tour to Blackpool is all but ready to go and those who can’t make it will eagerly await the tales to be told. Unfortunately, what goes on tour…

There is of course a programme of 7 a side activities planned for May and June, the Club Annual General Meeting will also be in June and pre-season training will inevitably start in July. Have a great off-season.