North Ribblesdale are York-ed

North Ribblesdale allowed an 18-point lead ebb away in the final 15 minutes as they slipped to defeat against unbeaten York.

They were made to pay for a lack of tactical nous which saw them attempting to play too much rugby in their own half.

York’s fightback was triggered by an horrendous pass which went dead.

Then a player was tackled behind the rest of his team when he had ample time to kick and finally an attempt at a miss move under their own posts went wrong.

Ribb also missed five kickable shots at goal so their wounds were self inflicted.

The afternoon had started brightly and Ribb’s first score came from a good line-out.

A series of forward drives stretched the York defence and the irrepressible Simon Bolland powered over halfway out. The relatively simple conversion was missed.

Matt Speres fielded the kick off and set up a period of sustained pressure which resulted in a York player receiving a yellow card.

After a penalty was kicked into the 22, Ethan Henare cleaned up the line-out.

Ribb mauled forward and Speres spun off and beat three men before sending Nathan Dakin sprinting to the line unopposed. Once again the easy conversion was missed.

After half an hour hard-working Mick Carr went off injured with Matt Boatwright replacing him.

York had a good spell of pressure but Ribb’s defence was up to the task.

Henare was playing his best game with big tackles and strong carries.

After 20 minutes York got their first try when their right winger went over.

Ribb’s response was immediate. A big break by Bolland took Ribb into the 22 where they won a penalty and opted for a scrum.

A big heave by the pack enabled Speres to touch down for a converted try.

York came straight back and Ribb gave away two penalties to end up in their own 22.

Ribb won the line-out but a poor pass from the ruck went dead. York won the ball from the scrum and eventually their number eight went over through a pitiful attempt at a tackle.

York came out to looking like they meant business turning over Ribb ball, the winger went clear but David Fox put in a good tackle. Ribb turned the ball over to clear.

York were coming back into the game but the defence was still solid.

There was a big boost for the home side when a loose kick was fielded by Josh McFarlane who put a high kick which the defence missed leaving Johnny Moore to sprint in for a converted try.

Ribb were 30-12 up with 15 minutes to play but took their foot of the gas.

They gave York possession and they chipped away at the lead with three penalties.

They then scored a try to reduce the lead to four points.

In the final minutes their big number eight went down the blindside. created an extra man and their winger went over to clinch the game by a point.

North Ribblesdale were gutted, but they need to think about their tactical approach.

The wind all day was very tricky and putting the ball high produced Moore’s try, they should have used this tactic more readily.

Although York are top of the league, Ribb should have won this game easily but kept leaking scores which kept the visitors interested.

But Ribb now know they can mix it with the best with two close results against Selby and York.

The return matches against both of these should be worth seeing.