Thanks to a commendable turnout of “Grumpy Old Ruckers” to both sponsor the day’s match and indulge in a hearty lunch of bangers and mash. Commendation too to Sam for switching rapidly from cheffing and “host with the most” duties, to ably assisting the 2nd XV to victory in their game versus Ossett. Always good to see former players and supporters around the club on big match days, cheering on the boys in blue and of course imbibing copious amounts of Theakston’s.

With both Ripon’s senior sides delivering a crowd pleasing blue rinse performance, the Hornblowers maintained their 3rd place in the North Central Merit Table and the 1st XV eased themselves back into the top half of the Counties 2 Yorkshire Division at 6th place.

In cold, damp, chill but still surroundings, Ripon eventually ground out a well-deserved victory over Wakefield based Ossett on Saturday and whilst narrowly missing out on the try bonus point, did enough to break back into the top half of the league table to regain sixth place.

Ripon made hard work of the game at times and maybe over-complicated matters in their efforts to play to the team’s strengths with its effective line out and speedy back division. A high error rate and penalty count were the downside of The Blues’ attempts at creativity and long stretches of the match were offered to the visitors to build their confidence. Fortunately, the confidence didn’t turn into many scores for the opposition and Ripon ran out worthy winners, denying their opponents any league points.

With changes down to single figures since their last league outing, Ripon fielded what looked to be one of the most stable sides of the season so far. The only change in the back line was the inclusion of veteran Jason Bell on the Wing, at last a squad member older than Newcombe, to bring his mature game management to the fray. George Evans was recalled at Tight Head to add some general oomph in the pack. The other changes came in the bench selection with Nick Perez as utility forward and Matt Binks as utility back and a welcome debut for Callum Burton as front row replacement. All were to take to the field and acquit themselves with credit, Binks adding a try to his impressive performance.
In the rest of the line up, Alex Riley started at Full Back and in a pre-match warm up breakdown, Mark Baldwin dropped out from the Wing and Bell stepped in for his first 1st XV start in ten years. Speedy Zak Kirby retained his place on the other Wing, as did Will Barrett and Tom Graham, resuming normal service in the Centres. Morgan Clark and Harry Drane completed the set in their fifth pairing so far this season at Half Backs.

In the pack, Keith Anderson made his fourth successive start at Loose Head, with the primordial Adam Newcombe at Hooker. George Evans completed the triumvirate at Tight head, with Iain Barker and Joe Middlemiss in their third successive pairing in the second row. Billy Fletcher, Skipper James Pearce and Jordan Layne made up the same back row as last week and so the whole starting fifteen had familiar look and a confident attitude towards playing together again.

From the start, Ripon looked to play an expansive game and Tom Graham and Zak Kirby were instrumental in making early yards. From a breakdown offence on just four minutes, Clark opened the scoring for Ripon with a penalty goal for 3 – 0. The rest of the first quarter was score-less, though Ripon had the lion’s share of possession, benefitted from Ossett’s indiscipline at the breakdown and a strong set piece. From a penalty line out deep in the opposition 22, Ripon drove for the line and anticipated another score. The visitor’s defence however, disrupted the flow and the bobbling ball was pounced on to release their speedy Flanker to break out. Weaving through the entire Ripon team to halfway, the offload to the Ossett Scrum half was executed at pace and the ensuing converted try put the visitors into the lead at 3 – 7.

The Ossett advantage was short lived though, as five minutes later, the Ossett Number 8 was yellow carded for repeated breakdown offences, so Ripon picked up the momentum again. As the first half drew to a close, Ripon were knocking on the Ossett door again, desperate to get another score. This duly came in the form of a simple break by Layne from the base of a five metre scrum. Clark’s conversion gave Ripon the lead again at 10 – 7 and the whistle for the break signalled some well-deserved respite.

Ripon started the second half poorly, conceding a trio of penalties in as many minutes and with four minutes played, Ossett caught The Blues napping again, with a quickly taken penalty and break out. The conversion put the visitors back in the lead again at 10 – 14 and Ripon needing to settle back into their groove again quickly. Relief came after a further five minutes when Bell fielded a deep clearance and started the counter. Barrett was on hand to take the attack forward and fed Matt Binks to finish strongly. Clark was just amiss with the conversion attempt, but the score just nudged Ripon back into the lead again at 15 – 14.

In a similar vein to the first half, the next twenty minutes were without score and both sides set up some probing attacking phases, as well as conceding multiple penalties. As the game entered its last quarter, Ripon playing down the famous slope exploited clean line out ball for Harry Drane to loft a box kick downfield. Zak Kirby timed his chase perfectly and the kind bounce gifted him an easy run in to score The Blues’ third try. Clark converted to extend the home lead to 22 – 14.

Ossett fought back bravely and a couple of minutes later just missed a penalty goal attempt. After a further five minutes Ripon pressure, Clark rubbed salt in their wounds and with a penalty goal, took the score to 25 – 14. That made his tally for the day a creditable 10 points and 66 points in all competitions this season so far, as well as the coveted man of the Match award. The game played out with Ossett looking to reduce the deficit to gain at least a losing bonus point, but Ripon held firm.

Not Ripon’s finest hour, particularly in terms of discipline, with some fourteen penalties conceded and a fair few unforced handling errors, leaving scoring opportunities to go begging. A solid win at home however and the makings of a stable side, dependent of course on player availability and minimising injuries. A timely wake up call as well, to focus on doing the simple things consistently right, keeping good discipline and maintaining patience and composure.

Next week, Ripon are back on the road for their next league action at Halifax Vandals. All travelling support for the 2.15pm kick off will be very welcome.