6:57pm Wednesday 10th March 2010
By Andrew Mills
Ribb came down to earth with a crash against a Leodiensians’ side who simply were hungrier for the win.
Leodiensians have been Ribb’s Nemesis after winning at Twickenham after the famous burger van incident and on Saturday they again undid Ribb.
Leos were good value for their win showing far better forward organisation than at Ribb and in No 8 Lane they had a player with power and the nous to mitigate Ribb’s massive scrum advantage.
Time and again he picked up from a retreating scrum and drove forward.
Ribb’s kicking game was pitiful and they missed at least five touches from penalties giving Leos running ball which they could not secure in the tight.
The pack did not perform either, time and again Leos’ maul drove Ribb back with three or four Ribb men guarding the fringes or more realistically having a rest, leaving an unequal three on eight.
From the kick-off Leos were on the attack and pressed Ribb hard but the defence held and then Ribb attacked, Carr driving hard forcing an opportunity which allowed Bolland space.
He went inside and was dragged down short with men outside him.
Further pressure saw a penalty converted by Moon.
Leodiensians came back and won their own penalty but they were having trouble winning ball.
Ribb continually kicked possession away. Leos have always been a good counter-attacking side and they made the most of it and soon had their own penalty converted by Frear who then dropped a goal to give Leos a narrow half-time lead.
It was obvious what was needed, cut out the aimless kicking, build up momentum and engineer more scrums, Leos weakest point.
All this was made plain by coach Elliot Sharp but it fell on deaf ears.
Ribb would not build up phases, on a very heavy pitch, drive take the tackle, present the ball, drive again.
Ribb flicked the ball about like Fiji but without the necessary skill.
Fiji play like that because they struggle for first phase ball, Ribb are unsuited to it because they don’t back up in numbers and don’t need to do it because their last problem is set piece ball.
That is apart from a mystifying refusal to throw line- out ball to the biggest man on the pitch in Tom Clay. The penalty count was 13-6 in Ribb’s favour.
They should have spent the second-half in home territory on line kicks alone but missed a lot of touches providing counter-attacking ammunition.
Apart from missing touches there are serious fundamentals to consider.
Why doesn’t Moimoi, who has an enormous left boot, take the kicks on the right side of the pitch; the back line looks unbalanced.
Moimoi is wasted at outside centre as he never gets the ball; Ribb do not have a fluid passing game and he needs to be nearer the action.
The game was won when in one of the few times they penetrated the 22 centre Knibb stepped his way over for a good converted try.
Ribb tried and tried but they could not build up the continuity needed to grind their way to a score.
In the game as a whole they built few phases and none in the second-half.
The best Ribb players were Mick Carr, who took the game to Leos, and Clay, who played well in his second start.
Ryan Kirkbride was very subdued along with the rest of the pack.
Ribb are now close to the chasing group, they need a win at home on Saturday.
Hopefully this is just a blip on what has been a fine season and the team should respond positively to what is a setback but is not fatal.
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