North Ribblesdale 12 Hullensians 27

NORTH Ribblesdale’s long injury list continues to hurt their prospects of finishing the season with a good run of results.

The home side had Tom Long making only his second start while his brother Josh made his debut in a full back in a side which saw Willie Garth returning in place of the missing Sam Boatwright.

Third-placed Hullensians literally won the game in the first 30 minutes. They scored three tries through by Ollie Emmanuel, Josh Langrod and captain Jason Conroy, while Emmanuel added a penalty and a conversion to establish a 20-0 lead.

It looked like men against boys as Ribb were not overwhelmed but were outmanoeuvred in the backs and off the pace in the forwards.

Ribb were guilty of showing their opponents too much respect and they picked up another injury when Jim Tunney was forced off.

The tone of the Ribb performance changed when Matt Speres came on. His forthright running started to put Ribb on the front foot and they began to compete for the loose ball.

Mick Thwaite at last had some space to get his back line going. David Fox put up some towering kicks as Hullensians were forced to defend.

Andrew Thwaite was prominent in the ten minutes before half time putting in some resolute tackles and carrying strongly.

The second half saw more of the same from Ribb, but they blew an early chance in the second half when a simple pass was dropped with the line wide open.

Ten minutes later Jonathan Richards burst through the midfield and found Mick Carr who raced in to score under the posts with Mick Thwaite converting.

Ribb kept up the pressure with Speres prominent. A second try came when Garth and Graham Newhouse drove the ball up the middle before releasing Johnny Moore to put Chris Briggs in for a try which Mick Thwaite narrowly failed to convert.

Hullensians were rattled and their forwards were visibly tiring. Ribb were on top but they missed another chance of scoring which would have blown the game wide open.

Hullensians regrouped and scored a further try ten minutes from the end which took the score to 27-12.

Although it was disappointing to lose another home game, there were pluses. The Long boys are full of potential, Callum Wilson scrummaged well and the line-out was secure with Andrew Thwaite taking some good ball.

The tactical game was much improved from last week and after the first 30 minutes Ribb were as good as their high-flying opponents.

Ribb’s players need to discover how to motivate themselves. They should not have to rely on Speres to get them going