North Ribblesdale 33 Old Brodleians 10

These two young sides produced a compelling contest in their final Yorkshire Division One fixture before the Christmas break.

Brods are a proud club who have climbed the leagues in recent years. Currently they are rebuilding and though the scoreline was ultimately decisive in the home side's favour, it didn’t reflect the closeness of the match.

It was the dominance of the home forwards in the last quarter that gave Ribb the edge.

For the first 60 minutes the game could have gone either way.

Ribb started with young hooker Richard Lynn deputising for the absent Matt Speres and had the returning Ryan Kirkbride on the bench.

There was a scare for Ribb right at the start when Brods fielded their own kick off and spun the ball wide.

Centre Town turned on the power as he created a half break before the Ribb back row turned the ball over.

Gradually Ribb settled down and were in the ascendancy. Steve Moon probed and switched play from right to left before, David Fox had a good run on the left.

When Fox was tackled Simon Bolland, Graham Newhouse and player-coach Hayden Viles all tested the defence.

Ribb were not to be denied. Viles made the crucial half break and Moon scored after swapping passes with Bolland. Robbie Davidson’s conversion made it 7-0.

After this it was all Brods. They secured possession from the kick off again and kept it.

Play was rotating around the Ribb ten-metre line and the home side could not secure possession to clear their line never mind mount an attack.

Relief looked to have come when the industrious Chris Heap forced a penalty, but an injudicious tap penalty gave possession back to Brods.

It is surprising that Ribb persist with this tactic as it invariably results in the taker being isolated without support and getting stripped of the ball.

Brods couldn’t believe their luck as they seized possession in the Ribb 22 and Rob Jennings ran in a try which Dan Wood converted. The rest of the half was all Brods and only good defence kept them out.

The second half saw Rib make changes with Kirkbride and Ethan Henare brought on as Ribb started to play a more direct and robust game which immediately brought dividends.

The rugged Kirkbride forced his way over for a try which Davidson again converted.

Brods were not finished and hit back with a penalty from Wood.

The game was see-sawing with the two well-matched defences making their mark.

Up front both sides were aggressive on the opposition’s feed and scrum ball was messy.

The line-outs were evenly contested but Ribb were starting to dominate the loose ball with Kirkbride and Henare making some dents in the Brods’ close defence.

Penalties were conceded and Will Davidson forced a line-out in the corner with one well-judged kick.

A good take from the line-out almost produced a score, but the resulting scrum did.

Kirkbride gained his second try which was converted by Robbie Davidson to put Ribb 21-10 up.

Ribb’s pack had built up a head of steam and were disrupting the visitors scrum.

Play got more competitive and the visitors lost a man for ten minutes allowing Ribb to tighten the screw even more.

Davidson kicked three penalties in this period to finish the game off as a contest. Brods were still competing but their ball was slow.

A further assault by the pack was repulsed but eventually pressure told and Nathan Dakin was forced over for a try which completed the scoring at 33-10.

Despite the heavy conditions both sides played enterprising rugby in a game which was evenly balanced until the second half when the home pack took control Richard Lynn and Henare did themselves no harm at all and Kirkbride showed great power on the ball, however the heavy conditions meant back play was not easy but with limited opportunities the Ribb three-quarters looked sharp.

Ribb’s recent form will lead to an intriguing Boxing Day clash at Wharfedale.