28Th January 2018 Old Crossleyans U18 Girls v Ripon U18 Girls

Final score 12 - 60

The Ripon U18’s, travelled to Old Crossleyans & continued their winning streak by producing another stellar performance running in 10 tries to 2 on a heavy, rain soaked pitch, with a cross wind. Quite rightly there was no stand out player as Ripon both in attack and defence played the whole game as a team. Every player tackled and ran with the ball with 100% commitment. The forwards deserve a special mention as they worked so hard to win the ball and provided the platform for the strike force of the Ripon backs to show what they can do best.

Playing 10 aside using a 3 player uncontested scrum Ripon quickly showed their intentions and firmly established themselves within the Old Crossleyans half with Abi scoring under the posts within the first 5 mins. Rather than this settling the pace from the start the intensity increased whilst Ripon had the advantage in pitch position the possession remained 50;50 with strong driving runs from Old Crossleyan’s being met with a solid Ripon defensive line that closed quickly snuffing out any breaks. Alisha, Helen & Nicole were quick to each break down and recycled quick ball to the backs whose pace and running lines devastated the opposition The crunching tackles from both sides unfortunately took its toll with Liv retiring from the game 10mins in after a high tackle however, from the resulting penalty Ripon quickly capitalised using a crash ball driving towards the try line Abi poached around the resulting ruck to score the second try. Old Crossleyans replied with their first visit into the Ripon half however this was met with the highly skillful Ripon backs Abi at scrum half, Alice fly half, Lucy & Lauryn as centres and Maddy & Emily as wingers handling a ball that resembled a bar of soap down the line to score two tries by Emily running outside the cover defence from distance was a sight to behold.

Half time 5-24

Fortunately Liv was fit enough to return for the second half and quickly made her presence felt by running in a try. This was followed by a passage of play where Ripon showed how far they have come as a team with driving runs and quickly recycled ball by the forwards the Ripon girls drove through 5 phases up to the Old Crossleyans try line where Abi scored diving through a crowed defence. Maddy played a blinder tackling hard and running down any breaks and it was her pace that she used to good effect showing a clean pair of heels to score a classic winger try. Old Crossleyans never gave up and managed to break and score from their own 10 m line to score however, the experience of the older Ripon hands showed with a trio of tries from Lauryn, Abi and Alice killed the game off. Finally Abi kicked well in difficult conditions scoring 5 conversions.

Tries Conversions

Emily 2
Liv 1
Maddy 1
Abi 4 5
Lauryn 1
Alice 1