Yarnbury 34 North Ribblesdale 7

NORTH Ribblesdale went down heavily at fellow strugglers Yarnbury by six tries to one at Brownberrie Lane.

The result, plus Acklam's 27-22 win over Keighley, has sent Ribb to the bottom of the Yorkshire One table.

And it places even greater importance on Saturday's Grove Park showdown with third-bottom Acklam.

They will be without their skipper Jonny Moore for that game. He suffered a shoulder problem and became the latest addition to the lengthy injury list at Yarnbury.

Such is Ribb's injury list that that the wisdom of playing the festive cracker against the Wharfedale Foresters has been questioned.

Ribb actually started the match at Yarnbury on the front foot and won two early penalties which Alex Naylor was unable to convert.

Playing up the slope Ribb chose to kick repeatedly and this was mopped up and returned with interest by the lively home side.

A large proportion of the first half was played between the Ribb 22 and the halfway line. It's a dangerous place to play and they were fortunate to only trail 10-0 at half-time to two James Falgate tries.

Ribb's tactic of running into midfield contact took their best carriers out of the game. The power of Latvian Myrtos Bokiss and Matt Speres on the wings plus the pacy David Fox at full back were under utilised.

Yarnbury's big pack did not have to stretch themselves. Ribb's only alternative was to kick from the base of the scrum effectively giving the ball away for Yarnbury's stand-off Kieran Davies to return it with interest.

The second half was competitive but Ribb seemed to lack any real game plan and as they tired and ran out of ideas a gleeful Yarnbury ran in a further four tries through scrum half Nathan Benton (2), skipper Jason Avison and winger Jack Brown.

Ribb's only reward came late in the game when a powerful surge from Bokiss created a try for the supporting John Padley which Naylor converted.