As the much-vaunted Storm Babet fizzled out like a damp squib, Ripon blew up a storm of their own at Mallorie Park and turned in their second six-Try, bonus point winning performance in as many weeks. A win that put Ripon up to 21 league points and restoration of a top half place in Counties Division Two Yorkshire.

The weather conditions were just about all there was that was calm, what with three teams playing at home and a well-attended sponsorship event, there was a buzz around Mallorie Park, quite different from any in recent years. The anticipation of a great afternoon of Rugby and potential for an unprecedented triple “Blue Rinse” created an air of excitement unseen for many a year and what played out through the 1st XV fixture certainly lived up to expectations.

On this occasion, The Blues’ meticulous preparation mostly worked as planned, with a solid display at the set piece against heavier opposition and when opportunity arose to spin the ball out wide, they did so with pace, commitment and style. In cool, still, dull and somewhat damp conditions, this was never going to be a day for the speedsters, but with both Wingers – Graham and Youngson bagging a brace of Tries each, they very much made the most of their possession, ineffective defence and sure-footedness on the soft turf. On the downside and there seems to always have to be one, the plan to improve on discipline didn’t quite come to fruition and with an intolerable 17 Penalties conceded by Ripon to the guests’ seven in total, has to be an area for further and closer scrutiny. With all of Ossett’s 16 points coming directly from Ripon offences, regardless of the calibre of the Referee, or his decision-making process, The Blues can’t go on giving away needless Penalties like this and with another player sin-binned, suffering the indignity of seven yellow cards in as many games. Keeping 15 players on the pitch at all times has to be a key objective.

This week’s pre-match mantra was focused on discipline, managing the breakdown more effectively by looking after the ball better and focusing on doing the basics well. Not rocket science by any means and the second two elements worked to good effect. Enough said about discipline.

Given the challenges of raising three teams for the day and with a few key squad members still indisposed either by injury or other commitments, this week’s selection for the 1st XV saw the fewest number of changes of the season to date. With just two recalls and four positional changes in total, this was the most stable team of the season so far and augured well for cohesive team work and mutual understanding.

Morgan Clark started at Full Back for the second week running and Tommy “two Tries” Graham started on his favoured Left Wing. His partner in crime Steve “two Tries” Youngson got his first start of the season on the Right Wing, but with his pace and flexibility, effectively cropped up all over the place. Liam Wood stepped in one place to Inside Centre to accommodate the recall of Matt Powell at Outside and bring some controlled aggression to the back play. Max Marston enjoyed his fourth straight start at Scrum Half and Mikey Bray again kept the scoreboard rolling along at Number 10 with another impressive points tally of 19, from a Try, two Penalty Goals and four Conversions.

Up front the only change to the starting line up was George Evans back in favour as first choice Loose Head. With Adam Newcombe and Try-scoring Dom Dalby making up the rest of the triumvirate, this was a front row built for comfort rather than speed, though anyone encountering any or all three of them in the tight or the loose, had a very uncomfortable ride indeed.

Locking the scrum in the second row were skipper Iain Barker and Tom Roebuck for the second successive week and last week’s full back row made it through selection intact again, with James Pearce and Freddy Wharton at Flanker and Perez putting in another Man of the Match display at Number 8.

Selected to bring pace and impact from the bench, were Harry Veitch, Henry Fletcher and Harvey Hooley.

Opting to play uphill to start with, Ripon received the opening kick into the grateful arms of Powell, who set off in the only way he knows, straight into the heart of the opposition. Fellow Centre Wood took play on from the tackle and seeking to go wide early, lobbed a long pass out to the wing, which was just out of reach for Clark to make use of. So, with a minute played, the guests were gifted a scum put in, deep inside the home half. Fortunately the Ossett early passing activity was as bad as Ripon’s and the move broke down to give The Blues their first scrum put in on two minutes. Nice and steady it was too, allowing Bray to hoof the ball to the safety of the half way line.

Ossett’s luck went from bad to worse as Roebuck stole the first of a handful of visitors’ line out balls, to set up the first meaningful attack through Perez and Evans. Miscommunication led to handling errors and a let off for the guests and from a following scrum, Dalby was penalised for lowering and with the posts in kicking distance, Ossett took the lead 0 – 3 with the opener of their three first half Penalty Goals. A lively fight back ensued, with Perez and Graham carrying strongly, the latter being hauled down illegally on 11 minutes to offer Ripon their first Penalty. Bray kicked for touch some 40 metres up-field and the pack opted for quick ball off the top from Wharton. As the ball was shifted to the left at pace, Graham entered the line to carry some 40 metres, scattering defenders like ninepins. From the eventual tackle, Marston hit Bray in space and seeing a gap opening up before him, Bray dummied right and jinked left to wrongfoot the opposition and use his ample reach to touch down for The Blues’ first score. Bray added the conversion to take the lead 7 – 3.

In not the most auspicious of restarts, Barker misjudged the reception and knocked on. With the supporting player adjudged off side, the guests were gifted another stab at a Penalty Goal, which they slotted with ease, to reduce the deficit to 7 – 6. A further Penalty for a Ripon breakdown offence from the next restart didn’t bode well for The Blues and for just a moment as the end of the first quarter approached, it looked very much like Ossett were well and truly in the game, with Ripon needing to pull their socks up sharpish. That they did, when Ossett were penalised for a further breakdown offence, the touch kick and line out option looked territorially to be a winner. Unfortunately the throw was not straight, so Evans’s peel attempt didn’t work out. It did however, lead to yet another breakdown offence as Perez wrestled for the ball from the scrum and on 21 minutes, Bray finally extended Ripon’s lead to 10 – 6 with another well-struck Penalty Goal.

Invigorated by the extra points, Ripon did step up a gear and showed the visitors to be relatively one-dimensional and quite pedestrian for the rest of the first half. As Ripon became more confident with ball in hand, their plays started to break through gaps in the defence and leave the Ossett pack standing. At 26 minutes, Newcombe took the Ossett feed in a scrum that allowed Perez to break blind. Crashing characteristically through the first tackle attempts, Youngson was fed to increase the pace of the attack. As play shifted back to the right, Bray carried to feed Barker and then Graham who took the ball to within a sniff of the line. Dalby’s supreme effort to reach the breakdown was rewarded with an unstoppable lunge over the line and with Bray’s missed Conversion attempt, took the score to 15 – 6. The next restart saw Barker field the ball perfectly to allow Bray to return the ball with interest back to the Ossett 22. From Roebuck’s third line out steal, The Blues attacked right again and from Youngson being held up near the touchline, the game took an unplanned and unusual break, while various parties were asked for a suitable receptacle for some dog poo on the pitch. Thankfully a considerate dog owner was on hand to provide the necessary and play continued with a defensive scrum to Ossett. Note to dog owners – dog poo and Rugby don’t mix, so keep the animals (four legged) off the pitch please.

On the half hour mark, with Ripon testing the defence further, a scrum offence by Ossett gave Bray his second Penalty Goal opportunity, which he took with relish and nudged Ripon along to 18 – 6. Further probes against the visitors saw strong runs from Clark and Youngson, with Roebuck reigning supreme in the line outs and Pearce bossing the breakdowns. Youngson’s efforts were rewarded as the half drew to a close when after another line out success, the ball went right quickly up the hill and after Graham made some 30 metres, released his companion to cover the final 20 metres and extend the lead further. Bray wasn’t so lucky with the Conversion attempt from the corner, so The Blues settled for a comfortable lead of 23 – 6. Ossett, however, weren’t going to take it lying down and through a last-minute breakdown offence and Ripon’s seventh Penalty of the half, Ossett went for the points and with their third Penalty Goal settled the half time score at 23 – 9.

The second half started just as well for Ripon as the first, with Ossett dropping the kick off reception offering possession back to Ripon via their increasingly more powerful scrum. Shifting the ball quickly to the left first, Dalby was on hand to carry hard and make some 40 metres before the defence caught up with him. Marston fed Bray and then on to Youngson at pace to straighten the attack. Seeing the crowds gathering, Youngson stepped inside and fed Graham looping round with a cheeky back hander to open his account for the day. Bray got his kicking back into the groove to add the Conversion to make 30 – 9 and limit Ossett’s chances of any more points from the game at all.

After 10 minutes of the second half Ripon deployed the “Bomb Squad” and substituted Dalby, Wharton and Powell, for Veitch, Fletcher and Hooley. A minor pack reshuffle saw Newcombe move to Prop, Pearce to Hooker and Roebuck to the back row. The new line up took a while to settle at scrum time but the line out continued to function admirably and everyone played their part according to plan in open play.

At 55 minutes, Ripon were knocking on the visitors’ door again, through repeated forward drives led by the big boys. Having softened up the defence, Barker, then Perez, then Wood drove in hard, before Bray fed out to the unstoppable Tom Graham to run in his second Try. Bray’s now metronomic boot clinched the Conversion for 31 – 9.

As the game moved into the final quarter, Ossett found a bit of second wind and with a flurry of Ripon’s activities falling foul of the Referee’s interpretation of the laws, started to see a resurgence. After four successive, but not successful as far as ground gained, or scores achieved Penalties, the visitors finally got their act together and caught The Blues on the hop from a tap Penalty. A couple of pick and goes from the initial tap were all it took to crash over the home line and with the Conversion, take the score to a less punishing 37 – 16.

The Ossett efforts continued in good form for the next few minutes, with some lively attacks, but lacking in follow up. As the clock wound down into the final five minutes, despite being down to 14 men following Powell’s despatch for a tackle offence, Ripon kept to their game plan and shape, which saw Perez and Fletcher cover almost the full length of the pitch between them, on one break out. Closing in again, Ripon upped their ball retention game and focused on them battering the Ossett line repeatedly. With Fletcher held up just short of the line, more drives saw Barker and Perez again leading the way, with pretty much everyone champing at the bit to get into the action. The final five minutes saw Ossett defending like demons against the 14-man onslaught, but didn’t look like breaking out and Ripon not offering any respite.
At just about full time, from a line out take from Wharton, The Blues ripped open to the left, to let Harvey Hooley show his pace. From the tackle, the ball drifted right again through Bray feeding Evans to bust on for 30 metres. Drawing the remaining defenders perfectly, Evans stepped back inside and offered Youngson the back hand offload on the outside. Youngson’s final footwork was mesmerising as he stepped one way then the other to touch down for his second and Ripon’s final Try. Bray could have nudged the Conversion over blindfold, so sweet was his striking of the ball and as the final whistle blew, Ripon rejoiced in their 44 – 16 victory.

Many positives to take away from this fixture – managing disruption well, converting pressure into points and scoring effectively from the set piece. Enough said about discipline and that will be worked on. Small consolation being no points conceded whilst a player down. Not a situation Ripon need to get used to, but good to see everyone stepping up and filling gaps.

Next week Ripon 1st XV take a rest from league action but will be using the time wisely to prepare for their next encounter away at high flying Baildon on 4th November. Kick off will move to the winter time of 2.15pm and all travelling supporters are welcome.