Ripon turned up the heat at a blustery Brompton Lodge on Saturday, with a thirteen try rout of local rivals Northallerton and catapulted the club to seventh position from their five league point victory.

In an outstanding display of pacy and fluid flowing Rugby, The Blues destroyed their opposition and apart from letting in a consolation try in each half, dominated play for the whole game. Erring towards indiscipline at times and conceding over twice as many penalties at their hosts, Ripon were fortunate to escape punishment apart from Northallerton’s first half successful line out catch and drive from a penalty touch kick. Apart from that, it was pretty much one way traffic for The Blues, in which the first half lead of 5 – 38 was more than doubled, with some serious “hat-trick avoidance” on show from five Riponians scoring twice.

The line up this week was once again an eclectic mix, with a late withdrawal by Barrett enabling 2nd XV skipper Matt Binks to be called up to the Wing and bag a brace of early tries through his excellent pace and support play. With a total of twelve changes from last week’s selection, the squad remains dogged by injuries picked up in pre-season and early games and is somewhat testing the coaching team as to consistent choices, particularly in the backs.

James Cooper started at Full Back this week and managed affairs at the back competently, particularly in the face of some testing high balls in the gusting wind. Olly Lang-Burns took to the other Wing, scoring Ripon’s fourth and bonus point winning try. The Centres had an interesting look with Billy Fletcher guesting from his usual slot in the boiler house and Tom Graham at Outside, the former scoring a second half try for his trouble and the latter a brace in the first half.

Morgan Clark returned to the fold after a week away and commanded the midfield ably with hands and boot. As well as scoring two fine solo tries, Clark was on song from the tee, converting ten of the thirteen tries and notching up a personal best of 30 points on the day. Harry Drane completed the back line up with his usual display of sniping and ankle biting at Scrum Half.

The pack saw a recall for George Evans starting at Loose Head, with skipper James Pearce also returning from warmer climes at Hooker. Adam Newcombe completed the triumvirate at Tight Head. Dan Rayner stepped up from last week’s bench and put in a powerful display in the second row and Tom Austin retained his place in the engine room. The back row saw a minor reshuffle from last week, with Jordan Layne starting at Blind Side and man of the match winner Freddy Wharton at Open Side. Allan Hudson delivered another dominant performance, this time from Number Eight. The bench gave Callum Burton and Harry Veitch the opportunity to bring fresh legs on later and a well-deserved debut for Colt Joe Reynard. The latter looking every inch a 1st XV squad member during his second half appearance.

In a free flowing match, Ripon showed steadiness at the set piece, with a solid scrum and a line out that gave the hosts a good lesson in their own specialist subject – the catch and drive. For the full eighty minutes, The Blues played with pace and cohesion, scoring at will, mostly from clean interplays and close support. Ultimately, the hosts just couldn’t live with Ripon’s intensity, which will benefit from fine tuning in the training paddock and applying with diligence in future and against more challenging opposition.

For the record, the scores came think and fast in the first half, with tries from Binks (2), Graham (2), Clark and Lang-Burns, with Clark converting four out of six. The second half saw additional tries from Pearce (2), Wharton (2), Fletcher, Clark and Veitch, with Clark converting six from seven.

A commendable all-round team performance, which bodes well for the rest of the season. There will be more testing matches and discipline still needs to be worked on, but with pace and support play at this level of intensity, The Blues will be strong contenders to get into the top half of the table and stay there.

Ripon take to the road again next week for their third league fixture, encountering Driffield 2nd XV on 17th October. All travelling support welcome, kick off time to be confirmed.