THERE is plenty of room for improvement for North Ribblesdale after their disappointing defeat at Clifton Park.

They weren’t helped by the loss of Luke Mellin with a knee injury but that couldn’t explain a performance that lacked direction.

They were under pressure in the scrum, they were outplayed in the line-out and their forwards seemed powerless to halt the effective rolling maul employed by York.

Ribb didn’t help their cause by kicking too much of the possession they secured back to York who launched it long to establish a strong foothold in the visitors’ half.

It must have been hard for the Ribb backs to watch the opposition getting a stream of good quality possession while they had to live off scraps.

The whole of the backline tackled well but far too often they received the ball on the back foot.

There were glimpses of what Angus Carr and Ryan Gill could do, but the opportunities were strictly limited.

The tone for the match was set when York opened the scoring with a try after Ribb lost possession in their own 22.

They added another three minutes later before Jonathan Richards kicked a penalty.

York then rumbled over from a rolling maul for a converted try to lead17-3 at the break.

Ribb were a better outfit in the second half but York gained the next score with a try from a well-worked rolling maul.

Angus Carr lifted the gloom by making a try out of nothing. He got the ball wide, stepped past his man, and seeing the full back out of position kicked long and won the touchdown which centre Jonathan Richards converted.

York finished off with a penalty and a soft score when the ball squirted out of the scrum to be picked up for a converted try.

Ribb have a big injury list with all their ball carriers out of action. With a light side they will struggle in the scrum, but they should do better in the line-out.

The forwards have to be more committed to preventing the opposition from building momentum from the maul. Too many of them still stand out in the backline pretending to defend.

Ribb still have a hangover from the time when they have a dominant pack, those days are over for now and a different mindset is needed.