2nd XV Match Report - Saturday 12th March 2016

This week Ripon 2xv travelled to Keighley to play a rearranged Merit League fixture. Ripon travelled with a bare 15 as Mark Sadler couldn't make it in time due to work. This meant uncontested scrum from the beginning which was not ideal! Welcomed back to the side were Henry Way, Matthew Binks and Tom Baldwin from the 3rds.

Ripon Kicked off and immediately put the home side under pressure. With Ripon ensuring that they had learnt their lesson from last week, tackles were low allowing the 2nd player to Jackal the ball. From an excellent tackle by Jonty Lister, Andrew Williamson managed to win a penalty when the Keighly player didnt release the ball. A quick tap penalty was taken and Tom Beaumont went over for his 1st try. Converted by Patrick Whitaker. 7-0

Straight from kick off Ripon were back on the attack. Spider Legs Joe Duffield broke through numerous tackles to score the second try. Patrick Whitaker narrowly missed the conversion due to his short legs! 12-0

Keighley then worked their way up the field with the help of constant penalties being given by the away side. weak tackling allowed the home side to score a try. This was also converted. 12-7. Just like the last time the 2 sides played, Keighley started to use their catch and drive against Ripon. However Jonty Lister ensured that this would be nullified for the rest of the game as Ripon didn't put any players into the maul. They could then come round and tackle the player legally. This confused Keighley which resulted in them passing the ball as soon as they could from the non existent maul. Ripon could then continually press the back line making some good hits.

On 15 minutes a good line out steal from Andrew Williamson was quickly shifted to Craig Sykes who went on a bulldozing run. The ball was quickly recycled and Josh Finkle scored a try near the posts. Converted by Whitaker. 19-7.

Just before half time Craig Wolloms was yellow carded for possibly the 1st time in his 50 year playing career (and he wasn't very happy about that!). The extra player that Keighley now had managed to score out wide after numerous phases. Conversion was successful.

HT 19 - 14

Keighley started the second half strongly, although some excellent tackling ensured they were kept at bay. From a nice move in the midfield, fly half for the day Tom Beaumont squirmed through 2 tackles to score under the posts. Converted by Patrick Whitaker. 26-14

With 20 minutes to play Craig Wolloms went off with a groin injury sustained in a ruck which meant that the remaining 14 had a lot of work to do. Again with the extra man Keighley scored a well worked try in the corner. The conversion was once again missed. 26-19. They also kicked a penalty with 10 minutes remaining to make the score 26-22.

Ripon now dug in and with the home side now tiring managed to play some good rugby. Keighleys players were now finding the going tough and lost a couple of players to injury. The remaining 6 minutes were played with 14 men each. With the last play called by the referee, the away side won a penalty for a player deliberately slapping the ball down. Patrick Whitaker kicked the ball off the field and Ripon came away with a deserved win and a bonus point.

FT 26-22

This was another excellent performance by a patched together 2nd XV. With only 15 players for the 2nd time in 2 weeks they managed to put their strong opposition away. This just shows were we are as a club with the quality that we now possess in the side. With the Grammar School lads playing in the Yorkshire Cup Final (good Luck boys) selection is going to be hard for next week. However we will hopefully have a few students back for their holidays!

MOM - Jonty Lister

DOD - Davin Jones - for his American Football pass!