North Ribblesdale 8 Ripon 5
Published by BrendanH on March 30th, 2008 in Match Reports, 1st XV
Ripon failed to secure a much needed away win as they fell agonisingly short at North Ribblesdale. The forecasted wind and rain had set in before kick off, making playing conditions quite difficult, with Ripon playing into the elements from the kick off.
The home side started brightly and soon put Ripon under the cosh with referee Jonathan Hill duly awarding Ribb a string of penalties. The Ribblesdale fly-half Tom Davidson failed to open the scoring with two attempts at goal, but eventually broke the deadlock in the 16th minute with a successful strike.
The home pack were using their weight advantage effectively and the Ripon scrum was repeatedly under pressure. The battle in the loose was also going their way as they forced turnovers and denied Ripon any clean ball.
The final 10 minutes of the half were to prove decisive in settling the game. Firstly one of the Ribblesdale locks was sinbinned for an infringement, leading to a renewed sense of belief on the sideline. However the optimism was short lived as North Ribb reapplied the pressure and a series of close drives saw their pack crash over in the left corner just before half time.
The second half follwed a similar with North Ribblesdale now looking to keep the ball in the forwards and play a pick and drive game. However, Ripon did break the stranglehold and their own pack engineered a try in the left corner with Matt Box finishing. The score was now back to 8-5 but with the home side dominating territory and possession. Ripon looked to break out again but were undone by errors and some poor decision making at critical moments.
With the clock winding down Ripon were awarded a penalty inside the North Ribb half and fly half Richard Hooks elected to go for goal. His kick was on target but unfortunately fell excruciatingly short and the defence cleared their lines.
The home side showed a lot of nous in closing out the final minutes to secure the win. Even though a draw would have been fair reward for Ripon hard work, North Ribblesdale deserved their victory for better execution of their game plan.
Great praise goes to the Ripon side for their undying application through this game. We were however undone through our own errors and failure to execute our game plan in critical areas. Our fate is still in our own hands and two weeks hard work will go a long way to ensuring the season finishes on a high. We should not contemplate anything less.
25 Comments to "North Ribblesdale 8 Ripon 5"
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Yeh, I echo Balcky’s comments - great effort shown by all. Keep that level of commitment up over the next few weeks and we WILL be safe come the 19th. Poor old scrap-dog, he’s a p**s artist alright! I made it til 6.30am Sunday morning (just beginning to feel human again) - how did everyone else fare?
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… I echo Blacky’s comments too!
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Sad’s, where did you get to? Can’t remember you leaving Slytrix - think i probably owe you a drink?!
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whos got my p*** bottle then??
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Great effort lads, showed real determination.And great bus trip back.Sorry about your shirt sadler!We need more bus trips like that, great for club bonding
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Anyone found Sadlers buttons
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What happened to them?
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unlucky lads on sat ! Well kept at it !
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unlucky on sat lads ! Mossy is rite come the 19 we will be safe !
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does anyone know where the grand father clock went? also the lantern?
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Oh no, were they both from the Half Moon? If so, and you can find them, i’ll drop them in personally - won’t look too good if they aren’t returned!
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Fellbeck? Dean Sidley’s Dad (Colin) will be looking for them back then!!
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thought they were from that pub we stopped at before grassington ! Think potter took em back today !
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I’ve just done some digging and i think it’s safe to say nothing was taken from there - thank god! Kids eh??!
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hey, i gave the clock to potter, he said he was gunna return on it!! look at the bright side. shawsy beat sadler in an arm wrestle (one for the backs!!)
bus trip was awesome, more of the same please.
6.30am mossy, impressive!! -
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nah, they were from that pub were the hat was taken.
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no i beleive they were both from that pub near Grassington, Old Hall Inn? Might be wrong though.
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think blacky is rite thats were the clock came from ! We can go back to fellbeck again ! Mossy your safe . These light fingered kids ! !
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A big sigh of relief all round! Have a good training session tonight everyone, i’m not down because i’m still as decrepit as ever and think that’ll be it for me for the season. I’ll come down Thursdays if possible to give you boys something to run at in your ‘team run throughs’ which i’m sure you’ll all be eager to get done with the big Pock fixture coming up!
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maybe boxy can take the pink cardy back to that pub, with the sexy ladies, or does Hooksy want to, cant believe Scott drank that vintage port, you tight buggers
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Sounds like a corker fellas. For those that can remember Benidorm i don’t think this is the first time this has happened to Scott!!! Dig deep on Saturday fellas, i’ll be thinking of you!
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Yep AC is right Scrap Dog has got previous for this sort of behaviour! Hope you got the clock sorted out! Kids eh?
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Speaking of clocks thatchers isn’t it about time me and you got down the club again? Must be coming up for players dinner time…
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friday 25 th april ! andy n thatch ! If thats any help for you lads ?
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Unlucky on saturday lads, great effort in the second half. Just a quick question, who p****d in the empty port bottle on the bus because scrapdog took 2 great big mouthfulls of it and didnt even notice. Good work!!!!