From the crack of dawn on Saturday morning, the airwaves and social media accounts were getting busier by the moment as the excitement built up for Ripon’s second outing to the Northern Echo Darlington Arena in as many years; to compete in the affectionately called “Pizza Cup” Norther Plate Final, which pitted the best of the Northern and Midland Divisions into mortal combat. In a weekend in which Yorkshire based clubs brought home the silverware in five out of seven finals, encompassing every level of the amateur Rugby Union game, Ripon played a mighty part in upholding pride in the region and testament to the ambition of a club that wants to go places.

In warm and bright conditions, the still surroundings of the arena were uncomfortably close for most of the game, but Ripon toughed it out and systematically stopped their Derbyshire based opposition from playing their normal game. There was unquestionable commitment and physicality from both sides, no quarter was asked or given and there were some sore and bruised bodies nursing themselves afterwards, The key difference between the two teams, was The Blues’ pace in attack, with significant line breaks in midfield and out wide, that the Midlanders just couldn’t deal with. A converted try in each half, was about as much as Ashbourne could muster for their efforts, both from quickly taken tap penalties, to try and gain some advantage from Ripon’s set piece dominance. Ripon on the contrary, carefully constructed play after play, for three first half converted tries and one in the second. Mikey Bray, in his last game for the club, was in form with his boot and kicked all four conversions and one out of two penalty goal attempts

Pre-match, the chat focused on the “here we are again” theme and “let’s not go away empty handed.” No pressure, this squad was well prepared, well drilled, well-motivated and most importantly – well hydrated.

Selection for this momentous occasion was going to be difficult, to ensure the best possible squad available and best possible chance of winning. The whole squad line up contained 11 of last year’s finalists, again a testament to the loyalty of this largely young set of lads – with an average age of 26 still and their faith in playing for a worthy cause. Notable changes were Kyle Smith moved from Wing to his favoured position at Full Back, while Mikey Bray stepped back into the void left by Archie Thompson’s absence due to his neck fracture sustained in the semi-final.

Archie made a remarkable recovery from his surgery to be at the game and stunned the crowd as he took to the pitch to rapturous applause at the end and quite rightly received his winner’s medal. The young lad’s playing future hangs in the balance, but all are so grateful for the success of Archie’s surgery and are right behind him for a full and speedy recovery.

“Abo” Sovatabua came back in to grace the Wing with his speedy presence and caused untold damage with ball in hand including getting close to scoring on three occasions and humiliating his opposite number with his pace and coolness. Borchard completed the backline changes and brought immense energy and presence to his position to keep the Ripon pack on the front foot and stir things up around the edges.

In the pack, Skipper Barker, Newcombe, Pearce and Wharton survived from last year and were joined by Payne, try scoring Dalby, Henry Fletcher and Roebuck, all of whom made telling impact in the set piece, carrying and defensively. The bench saw a fitting tribute to the performance and contributions of this year’s new squad entrants, Veitch in his first adult year, Austin in his first year in the club and Binks in his 1st XV call up this season.

Ripon received the kick off inauspiciously as Graham got a second touch of the bouncing ball and was knocked into touch. The Ashbourne line went their way to start with but their attack soon broke down with a mighty tackle and turnover by Dalby in midfield. Within a couple of minutes however, Ashbourne regained possession and gaining advantage from a tackle offence, took the quick penalty and scampered in for a converted try to lead 7 – 0 on three minutes.

Slowly gaining composure, Ripon looked to develop play through phases and used the likes of Barker, Dalby and Newcombe to bludgeon their way forward with Pearce in support and carrying evasively. It was not until the thirteenth minute that The Blues gained sufficient composure to turn their measured approach into points when Graham ran in after a move initiated from a Roebuck line out win. Williams made some 20 metres close in before Bray threw the long pass out to Graham to batter his way through the rest of the defence. Bray added the conversion to level at 7 – 7.

After a further ten minutes, with Ripon benefitting from opposition indiscipline and untidiness, fly boy Smith cruised in for Ripon’s second. Abo broke blind from a scrum move and gained some 40 metres before feeding Bray and then Smith. The Full Back slipped to Borchard to strike up the middle some 40 metres before being hauled down 5 metres short. Smith was on hand to dab down, with Bray’s conversion nudging Ripon in front to 7 – 14.

From a fluffed restart by Ashbourne, Ripon were soon back in the driving seat and from the scrum on half way, were back into enemy territory with a vengeance. From a penalty line out, the mini-drive stalled 5 metres out. Payne picked and carried to within inches and was held up. After a momentary “where’s the ball” situation, Dalby appeared from the base of the next breakdown and scored from his now customary 1 metre touch down dash. Bray made no mistake from the touchline and nudged Ripon to 7 – 21 and a good feeling.

The remaining few minutes of the half played out with Ripon thrusting significantly but the Ashbourne defence holding true. Breaks by Abo and Barrett kept the wolf from the door mostly and apart from a lucky opposition break that took them within 5 metres of the Ripon line, there was no further score in the first period.

Whilst the scoreline for the second half suggests a closer competition that the first and the opposition did keep fighting hard in all areas of the game, The Blues had very much the lion’s share of possession in the period and probably reduced their scoring chances by their own errors more than Ashbourne’s judgement. A weakness perhaps in Ripon’s armour, when they get in front, the tails go up and some really attractive Rugby gets played. That’s not entirely without risk and with the last two week’s games being good examples, if a game needs to be closed down, it needs to be just that. Conversely, Ripon has a pacy and immensely talent group of lads who love to play and as enjoyment has to be a key component, the risks are acceptable. This point was driven home when Ashington were given a penalty for a scrum offence deep in the Ripon half and from a quick tap, again they outsmarted the “Blue Wall” ran in their second and final score of thew game with a converted try for 14 – 21.

Spurred by the narrowing of the score gap, the Midlanders stepped up a couple of gears and even started to press the Ripon scrum at times. Bray halted the rot with 62 minutes played with a sweetly struck penalty goal for 14 - 24 and that was enough to get The Blues going again.
On 67 minutes a rare venture into the Ripon half by the opposition saw a floated pass in front of Ollie Williams and with typical aplomb, the speedy Centre latched on and made a bee line towards the posts. Having to dodge a bit for the final few metres as the defence caught up and closed in, Williams deviated somewhat from route one, but still touched down his magnificent personal effort in kicking range for Bray to convert for 14 – 31.

Ripon’s hopes of getting further out of sight a couple of minutes later, fell away as Bray was just wide of a further penalty goal attempt for his only miss of the day. Some fine performances from Ripon added to the magic of the final ten minutes, as all the bench replacements were brought on to savour the moment. One of the closing moments of brilliance was Abo, when faced with his opposite number on the break towards him, casually standing upright scratching his nose until the last moment and coolly disposing of him in touch. Arrogant no, confident, yes! With a final flurry from Borchard hauled down just short and perhaps leaving a fifth try to go begging, the final whistle couldn’t come soon enough for both teams, such was the overpowering heat and emotion.

Commiserations to Ashbourne, who were game to the end and all the other teams that Ripon have got the better of in this journey. Congratulations to Ripon from trying and trying again until they succeeded. More and better to come next season, that’s for sure.
Now with the formalities of the season concluded, Ripon’s players and staff will take time to rest, recover, refresh and rebuild for another league campaign next September and who knows where cup fortune will take them? The final events of the Players’ Dinner and mini-tour to Romania will be a fitting end to arguably The Blues’ best season in at least a decade. Thanks to all members, supporters, sponsors and well-wishers for getting behind the club and its teams.