Ripon 1xv
Matches
Sat 19 Oct 2019  ·  Yorkshire Two
Ripon Rugby Union Football Club
Ripon 1xv
13
18
Roundhegians
1st XV Match Report - Saturday 19th October

1st XV Match Report - Saturday 19th October

Becky Naylor23 Oct 2019 - 07:14
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MATCH REPORT by BOB CHAMPION

As we move deeper into autumn and towards the season of remembrance, a poignant precursor to this week’s game was a respectful minute’s silence, held in honour of the dearly departed James Potter. An uncompromising player and club stalwart on and off the pitch, may he rest in peace.

With a sizeable crowd, drawn by the memorial moment, the break in the weather and the HSBC sponsorship event, the game promised some vociferous local support and perhaps an opportunity for the Blues to break the table topping visitors’ impressive line of wins this season so far.
With some forced changes through injuries, some positional tweaking and some pressure relieving options; Ripon made numerous changes from last week and selected a squad to excite, experiment and deliver results. Starting up front, Slator and Newcombe retained their berths in the front row and were re-joined by Koroiyadi, back from saving the world, but unfortunately not the world cup for Fiji. Perez slipped quietly to the bench, relishing the opportunity to bring impact later on in the game. Henry Fletcher debuted in the powerhouse of the second row with skipper Barker. A proud moment for Club Director of Rugby, Pete Fletcher to see his son take to the 1st XV at the tender age of 17 and what a performance he delivered? The back row saw Rob Nicholson and Euan Findlay stay in contention and the energy of Jordan Payne made up the tribunal.

In the backs, Mainey was rested as a finisher due to injury and Ben Taylor stepped into his natural position at Scrum Half. Outside, Tim Tombling reclaimed his Number 10 position from the injured Williams, returning from a couple of seasons ago and sought to bring some maturity to Ripon’s back play, as well as some robust defensive capability. The rest of the back division saw some reshuffling, with Leeming coming in on the Wing to allow Graham to shift into the Centre to replace the injured Tom Newby. Pillar stayed at Outside Centre and Buckley returned at Full Back.

On the bench to finish, were Perez, Baldwin and Mainey and so the scene was set for an interesting encounter between the league leaders and a Ripon side struggling to get into its stride. Key pre-match messages were about playing with more physicality in the contact area, closing down the opposition with faster speed off the line and playing overall with pace and intensity. Another test for Ripon’s fitness regime and concentration for 80 minutes.

The visitors opened the game with a lofty kick received by Tom Graham, who barrelled his way up-field. From the eventual tackle, the box kick from Taylor was successfully recovered by the visitors, but Findlay managed to momentarily turn over possession again. The next attacking kick saw Roundhegians try to play out of defence and despite their impressively large backs, failed to make progress. Committing a minor infringement, the visitors gifted Ripon a scrum, which held tight and offered Findlay the first of many chances to launch attacks. This was a pattern of play which continued throughout the game, but unfortunately didn’t yield the territory, or scores that were expected.

In a game that was marred by unintentional indiscipline, the following penalty count of twelve each, was an indication of the competitive nature of the game and how pressure on either side could be penalised. Thus within five minutes of play, both sides had been penalised for avoidable offences and neither gained any territorial advantage.

Further penalties were exchanged during the first quarter and Ripon’s play showed an appetite for them to attack at every opportunity, via Taylor’s sniping runs and good movement of the ball when in possession. During these early moments, Findlay looked to make ground, as did Payne and Graham. The scrum was well stabilised through Koroiyadi’s input and the line out was boosted by Fletcher Junior’s athleticism. Findlay also played a key role in Ripon’s emerging line out dominance. The only downfall to Ripon’s play, was the failure to read the referee’s sticking to detail around the breakdown area and their own lack of continuity as a result of handling errors and at times, poor tackling.

After a number of relatively interesting, but uneventful exchanges, the game burst into life towards the end of the first quarter. A solid Ripon scrum saw the ball shipped out quickly to the left and a miss move, saw Clark drift in from his wing to inject some pace and chip the opposition Full Back. The kick recovery was text book and young Morgan Clark opened the scoring for Ripon with his first 1st XV try. Clark calmly added the conversion to put the hosts 7 – 0 in the lead.

The celebrations were however short-lived and from the restart, the visitors pressed to force errors. The reception by Ripon saw Taylor feed out to Graham and then Leeming, the breakout from deep looked exciting until the last pass to Buckley went astray and the hosts were left lamenting what might have been an emphatic 14 – 0 lead. Unfortunately the visitors pounced on the spilled possession and countered so effectively as to run in their opening try, which when converted, balanced the scoreboard at 7 – 7.

More efforts went in from both sides to play open and attacking Rugby and more penalties denied continuity or scoring chances. The final ten minutes of the half saw some clever play by Roundhegians to exploit Ripon’s indiscipline and kick two further penalty goals to make the half time score 7 – 13.
The Ripon team talk at half time focused on positives, such as exploiting set piece control and eliminating penalties. The threads of physicality and tempo were reinforced and Ripon looked to enter the second half like greyhounds from the traps.

In playing at tempo, the hosts pressured the opposition into errors and at just three minutes into the half, Clark added a further three points with a penalty goal to ease the score to 10 – 13.
More set piece dominance by Ripon followed and in causing a lot of bother to the visitor’s scrum and line out, more penalties followed, none of which led to scoring chances unfortunately. Ripon continued to press, through the likes of Newcombe and Payne, with Findlay an ever present force. Graham and Pillar looked to exploit further attacking opportunities and Buckley played a solid defensive game.

Despite Ripon’s best endeavours and a genuinely belief that the game could be won, at 65 minutes into the game, Ripon succumbed to a momentary lack of concentration and let the visitors’ Right Wing in for a rather soft try. The conversion drifted wide and left the score at a teasing 10 – 18, with the final quarter to play.

Ripon’s luck changed at the 70 minute mark when Clark slotted another penalty goal to take the score to 13 – 18, with all of Ripon’s points coming from young Clark. The final 10 minutes saw Ripon throw everything into attack and the visitors’ defence holding firm. The final score of 13 – 18 was testament to an evenly balanced and well fought game, which prompted questions as to how Roundhegians were as successful as they are and Ripon less so? Time and training will tell.

A positive note in support of the losing bonus point, was also the fact that the three best Ripon players on the day, were all products of the age grade system and have recently been introduced to the adult game. Ben Taylor and Morgan Clark, in their second seasons of adult Rugby, are fitting well into the swim of things and Henry Fletcher looks a really strong prospect for the future, for as long as he stays in the area. Player availability and settled squads make a huge difference to playing performance and so we hope that next week’s squad selection is based on playing form and match winning ability.

Next week’s Yorkshire Division Two action takes Ripon on the road again to picturesque Settle, for what could be an interesting encounter with North Ribblesdale RFC. Hoping that the weather and the end of “British Summer Time” allow for favourable playing conditions, the Blues will be looking to return to winning ways. All travelling support will be most welcome to this very hospitable venue.

Match details

Match date

Sat 19 Oct 2019

Kickoff

TBC

Competition

Yorkshire Two

League position

1
Roundhegians
11
Ripon
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Main Club Sponsor - Bronco
Major Club Sponsor - Theakstons
Shirt Sponsor - Econ
Shirt Sponsor - Dales Water
Shirt Sponsor - Paul Blood Driving School
Shirt Sponsor - Direct Sports Lighting
Major Club Sponsor - Ripon Interiors
Shirt Sponsor - Work Based Pensions
Club Sponsor - K A Anderson
Fit for Rugby, Fit for Life - RipFit