Featuring seemingly a cast of thousands and looking more like “Suva on Skell” than Ripon, The Blues hosted lively opposition from Tupton in Derbyshire and delivered an entertaining afternoon’s sport. Game to the end and buoyed by a constant stream of Riponian and Fijian replacements to supplement their injured, dehydrated and morbidly hungover players, Tupton showed true character in surviving the 60 minutes played. Looking more like “Sister Act” than the Spanish Inquisition, Tupton’s ecclesiastically themed dress code for the weekend, amused considerably but failed to deliver any divine interventions.

In true Easter Tour tradition, the visitors ensured that their playing squad consumed at least their body weight in alcoholic beverages the night before the fixture, though erring on the side of caution by not continuing post-breakfast, might have yielded a more creditable performance on the pitch.

On a day when the weather couldn’t make its mind up about which season we were in, the elements produced a chill breeze from end to end, with mercifully no rain; the once hallowed turf of Mallorie Park now more resembled a dustbowl than it previously perfectly manicured sward. It did however, provide a surface fit for the fast and furious play that followed.

With mixed availability over the holiday weekend and acknowledging the tourists’ likely parlous state, Ripon opted for an experimental squad to test a few new combinations and bring a social and sociable edge to proceedings. The eight or so contingent of His Majesty’s finest Fijians, added speed, flair and uncanny skills to proceedings and provided both Ripon and Tupton with plenty of rapid go forward possession, bagging seven tries between them for both teams. Notable too were the adult debuts for Colts Joe Robinson and Luke Kendal, both of whom acquitted themselves with strength and maturity, the latter scoring a fine individual try.

The opening exchanges of the match started slowly enough with both sides testing each other out before Tom Graham broke the deadlock after a succession of tap penalties. Harry Drane added the first of his many conversions. Pretty soon after that, the floodgates opened and The Blues started to run rings around the opposition. Tupton struck back a couple of times with their loan Number 8, but Ripon ran clear with tries from Kirby times two, Jacob Drane, Graham again, Will Mountford, who uncharacteristically took the ball with him on this occasion and Taivai, to take a 61 – 14 half time lead.

The second half wasn’t much different, with Ripon scoring at will and with five converted tries to one in the first 20 minutes of the period and the score approaching the 100 mark, the players and officials agreed to call it a day and get back into some more serious drinking. Some say the game was stopped short of 100 as the scoreboard didn’t have enough hooks on it for a three digit score. It was however, both an act of kindness to prevent any further humiliation and a prompt to get some more money spent over Ripon’s bar.

A successful outcome in terms of fostering good relationships between Ripon and other parts of the country, through travelling on and hosting tours and long may it continue. Certainly as far as till receipts at The Unicorn, King Billy and Black Swan were concerned, a great example of northern hospitality and the camaraderie that Rugby provides.

Next week, Ripon’s adult playing strength returns back to earth with a bump, as the 1st XV entertain Huddersfield Laund Hill in what promises to be a somewhat stiffer encounter and the 2nd XV travel to Ilkley for an equally stern test against their third team. Both kick offs are at 3.00pm and al support welcome.