Under 11 Yorkshire Cup Semi Final

Sunday saw the visit of Harrogate to play the Yorkshire Cup semi final and in a close match it was the visitors who went away with the spoils. As in all the previous matches between these two teams it was another hard faught game with both sides playing good rugby throughout the match. Report below.From the kick off it was the visitors who applied the offensive pressure forcing Ripon back onto the defensive, but despite alot of possession they were unable to convert this into points. On a number of occasions Ripon had to rely on the boot of Finn Hassall to clear their lines. As the half progressed it was Harrogate who started to play the better rugby, recycling the ball time after time in the tackle to keep the home team on the back foot. The pressure eventually told when good phased ball saw them crash over the line in the corner to open the scoring. With the conversion added Harrogate moved into a 0-7 lead. This spurred Ripon on and they finished the half on the offensive with a penalty 5 metres out but a knock on allowed Harrogate to clear.

The second half started with Harrogate back on the attack and with a second try on the cards they were unfortunate to drop the ball over the line. Not letting Ripon settle into their game Harrogate kept attacking with the result being two further unanswered trys from the visitors. Despite being 21 points down Ripon still battled hard and finished the game pressurising the Harrogate line but again handling errors let them down at the last minute.

On the day Ripon lost to the better team but should still be proud of the display they put up, in this match and the previous rounds. The training staff are proud of their performance as I’m sure are the rest of the club.

 Despite the disappointment of the earlier result the development squad took to the pitch to play their Harrogate equivalent. Straight from the kick off Ripon took the game to the visitors and good mauling play from the forwards force Harrogate back before Josh Petts appeared from the middle with the ball to cross the line to open the scoring. George Foster added the conversion to open up a 7-0 lead. Harrogate to their credit came straight back at Ripon and just before half time scored their opening try helped partly by some poor Ripon defence. The conversion was missed so the teams turned round with the score 7-5.

The second half saw Ripon play the type of Rugby we know they are capable of. Pressurising the visitors from the kick off they put together some good passages of play to see them score three unanswerd trys, two from Bentley Briggs and one from Will Grafton. With George Foster successfully converting all three the final score was 28-5 to the home team.

Despite the disappointment of the Yorkshire Cup match the boys still managed to leave the pitch with their heads held high to a rousing reception from the  now very cold supporters.

Next week is squad training at the Army pitches, 10 o clock start, see you all there.