U14's Narrowly Miss out on a Win

An away game at Keighley this week and a good performance from everyone. Ripon could only field a squad of 16 this week and lost Miles to a head injury early in the match, so the remaining 15 had to dig in for the duration. Ripon again got off to a good start with good possession and took the game to the opposition’s 22 several times, however again they failed to get the early score, with
Keighley breaking away to score first. Ripon continued to play well and were soon back on level terms, a good series of phased play saw the ball moved to the try line where Sam Headford powered over to score, Charlie Hynes converted and Ripon drew level.

As the first half went on Ripon played well moving the ball along the backline and gaining lots of ground. Man of the Match Jake Robinson had several good runs and his hard work resulted in a second try for Ripon when he outpaced the opposition defence to score, Charlie got the extra 2
points to give Ripon a 7-14 lead at halftime. Keighley had a good spell of pressure in the second half but the defence held up well, new player James Gatford put in a good display of tackling and rucking and was awarded Man of Steel.

The pressure eventually resulted in a try which was not converted so Ripon held the lead still. Both teams had chances as the game swung back and forth, Jake almost got away down the wing only to be stopped by the last man, Lucian Wray and Elliot Bean also had good runs. Keighley however scored the winning try with only minutes left. Again Ripon went close before the end when the ball just over-ran from Archie’s boot with Jake just unable to get there. Keighley won 19-14 however a good performance from everyone.

Also a special thank you to the lads that turned up and had a good day packing bags at Morrisons and raising £825 for the tour.