REPORT BY: DUNCAN BROWN

NORTH Ribblesdale travelled to Wath with a much changed squad and produced a battling performance in defeat.

Ribb nearly had a dream start when from the kick off fullback Ben Coultherd set off on a mazy run outpacing the home defence and was only halted yards from the try line by a fine tackle. The bulky home forwards tried to batter their way up field but solid defence and an infringement at the ruck gave Ribb a penalty which was kicked by Micky Thwaite .

A great kick by the excellent home ten from a penalty took play deep into the Ribb 22 and the line out was driven over for a converted try 7-3, a break by Ribb was stopped by a high tackle and the penalty was awarded in front of the posts which was kicked and the half-time whistle was blown, with it being 7-6 to Wath.

Playing down the slope, Wath upped their intensity and the forwards took the game to Ribb but superb defence kept them out led by Tom long who had a tremendous game and was backed up by the rest of his forwards. The pressure on the Ribb defence was increasing and a penalty for holding on was slotted over to increase the hosts lead and with the game entering the last quarter, a yellow card was shown to a Ribb forward for a high tackle and from the scrum a blindside break from the Wath 8 was touched down for a unconverted score. 15-6.

Ribb finally got some possession and good forward play was rewarded with a penalty which was successfully slotted over 15-9, the game was in the balance with 10 minutes remaining but a penalty was awarded for a no arms tackle and yellow card to the Ribb hooker and was put over to increase Waths lead to 18-9 ,a further penalty for offside was expertly kicked by Jack Whitlam and the ref blew for full time and the game ended 21-9.