Facing more spirited opposition at Brompton Lodge than the home leg last autumn at Mallorie Park, Ripon ground out a hard fought win against worthy opponents and local friends and rivals Northallerton. By no means complacent, The Blues were mindful of their hosts’ recent improvement in form and were under no misapprehensions as the power of their forward game. Slog it out they did, head to head and toe to toe, Ripon refused to succumb to the black hole like gravitational pull of the home pack and stuck to their albeit vastly modified game plan and team line up from normal. This necessitated weathering the storm at scrum time and combatting the ruthless energy the hosts put into their line out catch and drive routine.

Were Northallerton one-dimensional? To be fair, yes. With the unexpected loss of their “game changing” Kiwi centre early on through injury, the hosts seemed devoid of options in their back play and their tactical kicking left a lot to be desired. The insalubrious after match award to the home skipper was testament to his overall kicking performance. Reduced to exploiting Ripon’s abysmal discipline, which yielded twice as many penalties awarded to North as conceded by them, the hosts used their juggernaut pack to good effect, with all of their 27 points coming directly or indirectly from penalties against Ripon.

On the other hand, Ripon grew in composure at the set piece and whilst any driving maul was going to cause problems, their scrum steadied in the second half with the introduction of Hudson, who started at Centre, guesting at Hooker for the final quarter. The versatility of Player Coach Hudson shone through and his control of the Ripon line out later on, produced ample clean ball for The Blues to romp home with a top drawer second half performance to snatch the match. Cruelly, Hudson’s display wasn’t sufficient to gain him yet another man of the match award, though Morgan Clark’s nomination was well-deserved. The latter adding a further nine points from the tee to take his season tally to 171 points and making a solid impact in both attack and defence from his newly realigned position of Full Back.

Overall, a fairly evenly matched game in terms of territory and possession and with the hosts turning around 17 – 15 in the lead at half time, with the slope in their favour, Ripon knew they were up against it for 80 minutes, however ugly the hosts’ style of play. Some questions to ask of Ripon’s discipline, having conceded some sixteen penalties overall and gifting the scores that came from them; the rest of the season’s matches will be just as unforgiving and The Blues should take head of this warning.

After three weeks of squad changes being in single figures, this week the inevitable happened and with two recalls and eight positional changes, the squad was further disrupted by no less than four regulars playing out of their normal positions and some switches between last week’s starters and finishers. Up front, the pack’s starting line up was devoid of skipper Pearce’s presence due to his lost weekend in Paris, so the baton of leadership was ably picked up by Iain Barker. Keith Anderson held his own against heavy odds at Loose head and the primordial Adam Newcombe started at Hooker. In his first start this season having spent three weeks as a finisher, Jack Stiddard combatted well at scrum time and shone brightly in his front foot defensive performance. Barker and Billy Fletcher made the second row their own for the fifth successive game, both indulging gleefully in the often unsung wet work that tight forwards relish. The back row saw Joe Middlemiss retained at Blind Side for the second week and Jordan Layne switching to Open Side. A welcome return was celebrated for Elliot Davies-Taylor at Number 8 with another scintillating performance gathering his eleventh try of the season, making him lead scorer so far and an “X marks the spot” head wound, which hopefully won’t lead to further digs at his brain-power in the future.

The backs had a somewhat experimental look to them, with Alex Riley retaining the Scrum Half berth and bagging The Blues’ opening try. After last week’s powerful finishing display, Tom Graham sprayed on the Number 10 jersey for the first and possibly last time in his career and whilst his kicking game didn’t materialise, gave a solid performance in go forward attack and solid defence. Allan Hudson started at Inside Centre and took over from Newcombe as Hooker later on, to both confuse the opposition and bring an injection of more pace to the pack, scoring Ripon’s last try to seal the match. Henry Hanson, back in favour after a spell on the naughty step got himself quickly back into the fold at Outside Centre and gave a typical display of pace, fancy footwork and keeping his hands to himself. The Wings saw Zak Kirby give probably one of his better displays of the season in terms of ground covered. Whilst scoring one try as opposed to last week’s brace, the young speedster continues to thrive on finding space and letting himself go despite the watchful gaze of his dad. Harry Drane guested on the other Wing and admittedly while not going to win any sprints against “proper” Wings, didn’t put a foot out of place and bagged a first half try for his determination in support. To be fair, neither Wings were troubled defensively as the hosts rarely allowed the ball out of the sight and grasp of their honey monsters. Bringing up the rear, Morgan Clark, whilst hitting only just over half of his place kick attempts, was justifiably awarded man of the match for his overall contribution in organising attack and defence.

This week’s finishers saw back row sluggers Tom Austin and Harry Veitch eager to get involved and make a difference later on, as well as James Cooper as back replacement, rapidly studying the laws of physics and nature and the relative damage a human can absorb when hit by a Rhinoceros. Thankfully apart from Davies-Taylor’s head wound, no animals were harmed in the production and all lived to play another day.
The atmospheric conditions took on a very different perspective a few miles further North of Ripon and the barren plain of the top end of the Vale of York, showed no mercy as all sorts of bitter wind, hail and at times driving rain interspersed with moments of calm and bright sunshine made this a day of all seasons. Given that there’s no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing, this was a day of very mixed elements and thoughts went out to everyone in shorts and short sleeved shirts, standing around for ages in the cold. Enough said about the Northallerton backs and on with the game.

Ripon had the dubious advantage of playing downhill but into the sun and wind and somewhat trepidacious of responding to any counter attacks from the receipt. Regathering the ball from Clark’s lofty opener, Ripon recycled quickly for Hanson to be high tackled within seconds. With just one minute played, Clark nudged over the penalty goal to open for The Blues and a good stamp on the game at 0 – 3. The hosts fought back from the restart and when Graham was caught in possession after six minutes; the ensuing touch kick led to the first of many forward drives from North. The line out was executed with ineffective competition and the home pack trundled over the Ripon line. The conversion added the extras for the hosts to take the lead at 7 – 3.

Within a couple of minutes of the restart, North rumbled on and from a territorial kick, Clark countered but got isolated. The touch kick, line out, catch and drive started to have a familiar ring to it and lacking the conversion, North extended their lead to 12 – 3 on eleven minutes. Ripon countered well, with some incisive running from Graham and Kirby. The hosts got caught in possession during their attempted exit and from a Ripon scrum on the half way line, Alex Riley crossed the home line for the first time for The Blues with nineteen minutes played. Davies-Taylor had picked from the base to feed Riley, who sequentially stepped and shimmied his way over the 45 metres to touch down under the posts. Clark added the conversion to narrow the gap to 12 – 10.

Celebrations were cut short within moments however, when North pressed for the Ripon line and from yet another line out drive, were held up. The home pack made easy work of the five metre scrum and crossed over for the unconverted try and an invigorated lead of 17 – 10 with 25 minutes played. The next few phases saw some arm wrestling up front and good ground gains from the likes of Anderson, Stiddard and Davies-Taylor, with strong pace showed from Hudson and Kirby. The final few minutes saw Ripon gain the edge around the fringes and exploiting the hosts’ slowness to the breakdown. From a tap penalty by Riley, Clark came into the line and fed Drane through a looping pass out wide. Against all odds, the plucky stand in Wing showed true Drane spirit and crossed over for Ripon’s second try. Clark was slightly wide of the conversion but the narrowed gap of 17 – 15 was more comforting for The Blues.

The final few moment saw Ripon finish the stronger, with a clear desire to get in front before the break. Alas, best laid plans and all that, a last minute breakdown of an almost certain scoring attack brought on the half time whistle and scored stayed where it was.

Facing an uphill struggle but with a good wind behind them, Ripon received the kick off and set off up field. Within moments a breakdown turned into a melee and alleged foul play from a home forward saw them yellow carded. The Ripon penalty touch kick saw a line out won by Hudson and quick ball spun to the left. Clark came into the line to feed Graham on the loop, before releasing Kirby to cover the final 30 metres. Clark was unlucky with the conversion but the score nudged Ripon in front again to 17 – 20 with just three minutes of the half played.
Clark came into his own again from the deep restart collection and banged a superb, wind assisted 50 – 22 kick deep into home territory.

From the line out won by Hudson, Ripon progressed through some close order picking and going, with Fletcher and Anderson doing most of the ground breaking. A gap emerged some 15 metres infield and with some 10 metres to go to the line, Elliot Davies-Taylor was unstoppable for Ripon’s fourth and bonus point winning try. Clark added the conversion for 17 – 27 and Ripon feeling a sense of comfort at last.

The comfort was short-lived however, as within moments of the restart, the home pack fought their way downhill and from a penalty, yes you guessed it, North rumbled in for a line out catch and drive try. With no conversion, the score stood in Ripon’s favour at 22 – 27 but nothing was to be taken for granted. The next few minutes saw the hosts get their second wind and do their best to slow things down. The Blues kept looking for gaps in the wall and out wide and relied on stealth and fitness to keep the game alive. The killer blow came moments in to the final quarter, when yet another penalty from Ripon gave the hosts yet another opportunity to drive from a line out. The line crossing was inevitable and the unconverted try gave North a complimentary 27 – 27 draw.

Ripon were down but not out and showed true courage and determination for the rest of the game. The hosts tried their best to get going again but looked out of steam and Ripon looked lively but couldn’t find the gaps or escape the endless penalties. The Blues threw everything including the kitchen sink into the last five minutes and their efforts to avoid the draw were finally rewarded with Hudson’s excellent support play from a Drane break. Clark added the conversion to put Ripon tantalisingly in front at 27 – 34 with four minutes left and anyone’s guess as to when or where the next penalty would come from.

The Blues stuck it out manfully to the last minute and kept the hosts under sufficient pressure to avoid any break outs. Given a penalty deep in the home half three minutes into injury time, Skipper Barker opted for discretion and Clark booted the ball off the park for the final whistle and a 27 – 34 victory. The silence of the disappointed home crowd was barely outplayed by the sighs of relief of the travelling Ripon faithful. A match marred not for the first time by Ripon’s inability to read the man in the middle’s interpretation of the laws, particularly when it doesn’t seem to be as disaffecting to the opposition.

A testament however, to the grit and determination that Ripon players are showing in this half of the season to show up for eighty minutes and give as good as they get, Northallerton may not be the biggest recent scalp but another away win to dispel that bogey augurs well for The Blues’ run in to the end of the season.

Ripon now turn their attention to next week’s home fixture against Halifax Vandals at Mallorie Park and look to avenge the narrow away defeat back in November. Kick offs are now at 3.00pm for the rest of the season and without the distractions of Six Nations, Winter and Paralympics on the TV, all support welcome.