Back to earth with a bump this week for the fifteens, with a poor show against a well organised Wetherby team. Things started well, for the first ten minutes Ripon having lots of the ball, competing well at the breakdown and forcing Wetherby back into their twenty-two on several occasions.
However they could not convert the possession into points. Wetherby scored two tries in the first half, First poor tackling allowing the winger in by the corner, and then no full back at home to stop the Wetherby back running on to win a footrace to the line. Half-time 10-0.
The second half saw Ripon struggle to get back on terms, when in promising positions they could not keep hold of the ball, too many knock-ons, missed tackles, and penalties given away did not help. Wetherby scored three more unanswered tries in the half to win 29-0. Not much good to come out of the game, other than a couple of crunching tackles from Luke Bell and Miles Naylor.
Perhaps Halloween and the half-term holidays had something to do with it ?