York 51 North Ribblesdale 28

A SPIRITED performance from North Ribblesdale confirmed the indications of the last couple of games that they have turned a corner.

They ran in four tries against the Yorkshire One leaders to secure a much-needed bonus point which edges them further away from the bottom two.

Ribb's lighter pack once again played well against strong opposition and were rewarded with two tries from close-range scrums and one from a line-out.

Ribb were forced to field a makeshift half-back pairing with Mick Thwaite at scrum half and Johnny Moore at stand-off.

The midfield defence proved solid and Ryan Sumner had another good game while debutant Patrick Muller looked elusive and scored the final bonus-point try.

Ribb kicked off downhill on a surface that was only just playable with several hard areas. A match on an adjoining pitch was abandoned after ten minutes.

The visitors went straight on the attack and were rewarded with the first try. The York full back was caught in possession as Ribb forced an attacking scrum.

A short pass from Moore and a sharp change of direction from Sumner saw the centre go over for a try which Mick Thwaite converted.

York responded by pressuring Ribb into conceding a penalty which they put into the corner and drove Lewis Hannibal over from the resulting line-out.

Ribb went straight back on the attack and player-coach Matt Speres went over from the base of the scrum for another converted try.

York then had a period of ascendancy which they turned it into points when the blindside wing came into the line to create the overlap which enabled Gareth Singleton to go over for a try which Jon Dawes converted.

York then enjoyed their best spell of the first half scoring tries from Fox converted by Dawes and an unconverted try from a mauled line-out by Toby Atkin on the stroke of half time gave the home side a 24-14 lead.

York had a far bigger pack and for the first 15 minutes of the second half they were dominant scoring two tries by Dawes and Singleton, both from sloppy kicks.

Fox added two further tries and at 46-14, Ribb looked down, but it said much for their character that they rallied.

Sumner got them into the home half and forced a penalty which Mick Thwaite put into the corner where Will Thwaite got the touchdown from the resulting line-out.

Atkin scored a further try for York before, in the last seconds, Muller intercepted on the 22 before going over in the corner for the bonus-point try. Mick Thwaite converted from the touchline.

This was probably Ribb’s best performance. Their first-up defence was good and the pack more than matched York in the tight,

The only downside was their poor kicking which proved costly against a York side so deadly on the counter attack.

This performance indicates that Ribb are going in the right direction and continued improvement will hopefully see them climb the table.