Back on home turf, Ripon staged their second Sevens Festival at Mallorie Park after last year’s successful inaugural event. This year was bigger and better, with thirty teams from across the North East of England and one guest side from Scotland, competitions were held in the three categories of: Elite Men; Social Men and Women. Ripon entered a team in each category and whilst playing success wasn’t optimised across the board, the club gave a great account of itself in terms of sportsmanship, hospitality and organisation. The tropical weather added an extra bonus to the proceedings and befitted the beach theme of the day.

Ripon’s women kicked off proceedings, with the first of a series of plucky displays against spirited opposition and lost out to Grangemouth, who went onto win this category. “The Bluebelles” showed consistent commitment in their remaining three games and despite not crossing the line for any points, played with passion and fortitude. The women’s competition overall, was played to a very high standard and served as a brilliant window display to attract more locals to come and play for Ripon.

In the Men’s Social competition, Ripon’s stalwarts fared somewhat better, with a solitary win against “Black Wolf” before exiting the Plate round. Again, this was an opportunity for Ripon to showcase that Rugby is available for all shapes and sizes and diversity of playing ability.

After a strong start in the Elite Men’s competition against “Old Riponians”, winning by 33 to 14, with tries from Clark (2), Sean, Davies-Taylor and Graham and conversions from Clark (2), Sean and Graham, The Blues’ fortunes wavered. The next encounter against “Yorkshire Generators”, saw a solo converted try from Smith keep Ripon on the scoreboard, but the final score of 7 – 35 in favour of the Sedbergh former pupils was testament to the strength of the opposition.

Ripon returned to winning ways shortly afterwards, with a 24 – 14 win over “Diamond” from Barnard Castle, with tries from Wharton, Pearce and Smith amongst the scorers. Next up, Ripon faced their toughest test of the day against 21 Regiment Royal Engineers and succumbed to the locally based predominantly Fijian outfit 12 – 45. In a game that saw the South Sea Islanders in free flow and Ripon in free fall, Ripon’s blushes were spared by two tries and conversion from Tom Graham. Graham putting in an all round display of power and pace, to earn the accolade of Most Valuable Player for the second tournament running.

Earning enough credit to get through to the plate semi-final, The Blues then took on “Vipers” with a steady 25 – 0 win to secure a place in the final. The final match saw Ripon face “Diamond” again and this time, the boot was on the other foot. Despite two tries from Freddy Wharton and two conversions from Kyle Smith, The Blues lost out in a tough 14 – 26 encounter that saw the Barnard Castle outfit walk away with the silverware.

A great day for Ripon and a great day for Rugby. The Blues are back on the road again next Saturday for the final excursion of the summer to Beverley 10s festival. Apart from that, it’s noses back to the grindstone for existing and aspiring Ripon players, with pre-season training heading into full swing every Tuesday and Thursday evening.