U14s Clash of the Titans

It was rare last season to see an opposition that matched the size of the Ripon squad. However Driffield must have been getting Mrs Wainwright's home made farmers dinners delivered in the summer months. You would have been forgiven for thinking you were watching the senior team today.

With a few injuries to some key players, the Ripon team was mixed up a bit with a number of players being asked to play in positions they were not usually asked to play in.

Ripon started poorly straight from kick off and immediately felt the pressure of the big Driffield pack. They defended well though and eventually settled into the game. The Driffield defence was good and kept the Kracken (Stay with me here - I'm sticking to the Clash of the Titans theme) Ted Wainwright at bay with some good tackling.

A good period of evenly contested rugby was played until the deadlock was broken by Pegasus (Harry Allen) showing a clean pair of hooves down the wing to score in the corner from 30 meters out. (5-0)

The visitors responded with a long period of pressure in the Ripon 22. Ripon defended well though and after breaking away with the ball Perseus (Evan Rees) (Those up on their Greek Mythology will see what I've done there), ran in from deep inside his own half to double the lead. (10-0)

As with the previous try, Driffield responded with a period of pressure, which this time resulted in them scoring. (10-5)

With the first half nearing completion, Perseus (Evan Rees) had an almost identical run to his previous try from deep inside his own half, scoring under the posts and Pegasus (Harry Allen) hoofed it over for the extras. (17-5).

Medusa (Dan) had his half time chat.

The second half saw more scrums than Hades himself would wish on anyone. Michael Sorby, Nathan Fraser and Harvey Toomes did well at the coal face against a much bigger front row.
Both teams worked hard and nullified each others attacks. There was some great tackling by Cole Potts, Hamish Mainey, Oliver Williams and Ted Wainwright.

It wasn't until the last 30 seconds that the Driffield furies managed to get the only try of the half, which they converted and with Zeus blowing for full time, left a very competitive final score of 17-12.

I'll not get into the minefield of naming an Aphrodite :-)