Topham's last minute seal 'friendly' win for North Ribb (From Craven Herald)

Topham's last minute seal 'friendly' win for North Ribb

1:36pm Thursday 29th March 2007 in Sport By Sportsdesk

Bramley 15 North Ribblesdale 17

A last minute try from 60 yards from a break by Ian Bartlett smoothly finished by Ben Topham, snatched a win over a combative Bramley who could justifiably feel cheated.

Although to be fair Ribb deserved a win scoring three good tries and playing the better rugby. Bramley gave as good as they got up front helped by some bizarre refereeing decisions which included a penalty against Ribb on health and safety grounds! Apparently they did not lower Dean Stacey to the ground gently enough after a line-out.

The strength of the Ribb scrum was negated by constant wheeling. Bramley also had a very efficient line-out which was one of their most productive means of possession.

Bramley's other source of possession was a constant Ribb desire to take the ball back into the forwards.This is a baffling tactic. They win the ball and then put it at risk by having a centre charge into the middle of the opposing pack. Even winning the ball is of dubious use as they now have a centre in the bottom of a ruck and a back row tied up in the ruck.

Achieving anything with a back and the back row missing is difficult and every time they do it they risk losing the ball. It was lost on several occasions as the referee was very hot on obscure technical transgressions.

Ribb started with a 90 metre dash from his own line by evergreen Simon Spensley who on this showing could sprint in the veteran Olympics. Bartlett converted. They then got bogged down in a war of attrition in which the home scrum-half was very prominent.

The rest of the first-half was Ribb's pack against Bramley's line-out. Although Ribb did win decent line-out ball they could not touch Bramley's long throw to the back. After pressing for most of the last 20 minutes of the first-half Bramley got over for a converted try.

Late in the second-half Adam Stubbs, who had a decent game, ran a good line off David Fox and took out two men to put Simon Chapman over for a try under the posts. Bartlett dragged the conversion wide.

The second-half saw Ribb playing into a strengthening breeze and Bramley had more of the play. They spent large amounts of time in the Ribb half. Fox also had a good game saving Ribb on a couple of occasions.

The game was stop-start with quite a few handling errors and although Ribb had a good share of possession their tactic of taking it back into the forwards gained little ground and they were for the last 20y minutes constantly defending, which to be fair they did well.

Ribb were visibly growing impatient and tried to run out from behind their own line. They had men over and the space was on the outside but a handling error let Bramley in for a try which was unconverted.

With the score at 12 each the home side scented victory. They used the wind to force Ribb back and with five minutes to go got a penalty to put them three points ahead.

Almost from the kick-off Bartlett sliced open the midfield defence to put Topham away with 60 metres to go. He beat the cover and rounded the full- back to score under the posts.This gave Ribb a win by a slim margin.

The plusses were Ribb's tenacity under some pressure, the performance of Adam Stubbs, David Fox and as substitute for the last ten minutes Tom Clay and the pace Ribb have at their disposal.

Although a narrow win Ribb were good under pressure although a large amount was created by themselves. They still have an outside chance of promotion which in a season where the aim was survival is a significant achievement.

They need to play rugby wide and at pace off the back of their traditional scrum dominance to beat Knottingly on Saturday to set up a rousing finale at Heath in two weeks time.