Match Report Saturday 21st November 2015 - Ripon 2xv - Ripon Rugby Union Football Club

This week Ripon 2xv hosted Selby 2xv in a hastily rearranged Merit League fixture due to Cleckheaton 3s not being able to put out a side. Thanks to Selby for doing this.

Changes for this week were Captain Andrew Williamson and Jack Baker returning from their sabbatical from the 1st team and Sean Nicholson, Tom Kettlewell and Rob Goss coming up from the 3s for their debuts.

Ripon kicked off towards the cricket pitch against the elements and immediately put the Selby side under pressure. Scrums started well, with the home pack driving Selby off the ball which allowed Andrew Williamson to make some good ground before feeding to scrum half Jack Baker who was tackled 15m out. A penalty was then won and the home side kicked to the corner. A good lineout catch from Nick Stringer started an unstoppable driving maul which allowed Jack Stiddard to score yet another try. 5-0

Selby Kicked off and once again Ripon moved the ball up the field and gained another penalty in front of the posts. Patrick Whitaker converted the penalty. 8-0

This seemed to wake the away side up and although some good tackles were made Selby managed to score 3 trys in quick succession, converting 1 of them.

HT 8-17

Ripon now had the slope and the wind at their backs. Good play by the forwards and the backs kept the away side pinned in their own half for the majority of the 2nd half.

No other score came until Patrick Whitaker converted a penalty on 70 mins. 11-17.

The home side now smelt blood and started to push the Selby side back. However with probably their only venture into the Ripon half, Selby strung the ball from right to left to score their final try in the corner to make the final score 11-22.

This was another hard day at the office for the home side against a side that has only lost once this season. Positives can be taken from the game and the side must get to training to help them move in the right direction.

MOM Nick Stringer