North Ribblesdale are punished for a sloppy start (From Craven Herald)

North Ribblesdale are punished for a sloppy start

11:10am Thursday 8th September 2011 in North Ribblesdale By Andrew Mills

Heath 39 North Ribblesdale 17

After a promising pre-season North Ribblesdale were made to pay for a disastrous start and crashed to defeat.

They only started to play in the last 20 minutes by which time it was far too late.

North Ribblesdale had a few players missing so Michael Thwaite deputised at scrum half and provided a decent service while Richard Lynn was given his first league start.

The tone was set when Ribb kicked the ball over the dead ball line from the kick off and Heath secured good possession from the resulting scrum.

There appeared little danger when the ball was chipped forward as there were plenty of Ribb players around but they failed to control the bouncing ball and Muir pounced to score a try for Heath which was converted by Lomas.

A penalty from Lomas extended the lead to 10-0 and when Garside went in for his side’s second try straight from the restart, Ribb were in trouble.

There was some relief for the visitors when a fine tackle from Ryan Kirkbride forced a penalty which Steven Moon converted.

Heath came back hard and Ribb were under the cosh.

Only a fine tackle by Simon Chapman prevented another try. But the relief was short-lived.

Heath set up a maul and Puttick plunged over for a try which Lomas converted for a 22-3 lead after just 35 minutes.

Ribb held on until a fly hack caught them out and Baxendale scored a soft try which was converted by Lomas who added a penalty soon after.

Ribb made some changes at half-time sending on Graham Newhouse, Chris Heap and Rob Corner.

Ribb were a far better side in the second half despite immediately conceding another soft try from a hopeful kick which Baxendale latched on to and scored under the posts for the accurate boot of Lomas to convert again.

Ribb came to life, in the second half and penetrated the home defence four times with either interceptions or clean breaks.

Matthew Dakin made 40 metres and a powerful run by skipper Dan Watson resulted in a try for Moon which he converted.

Ribb eventually got a second try by James Dugdale in the 78th minute which was converted by Moon to finish the scoring This was a wake up call for Ribb. On the evidence of this game they lack scoring pace and their defence is at times brittle , Chapman has to make too many saving tackles.There appeared little danger when the ball was chipped forward as there were plenty of Ribb players around but they failed to control the bouncing ball and Muir pounced to score a try for Heath which was converted by Lomas.

A penalty from Lomas extended the lead to 10-0 and when Garside went in for his side’s second try straight from the restart, Ribb were in trouble.

There was some relief for the visitors when a fine tackle from Ryan Kirkbride forced a penalty which Steven Moon converted.

Heath came back hard and Ribb were under the cosh.

Only a fine tackle by Simon Chapman prevented another try. But the relief was short-lived.

Heath set up a maul and Puttick plunged over for a try which Lomas converted for a 22-3 lead after just 35 minutes.

Ribb held on until a fly hack caught them out and Baxendale scored a soft try which was converted by Lomas who added a penalty soon after.

Ribb made some changes at half-time sending on Graham Newhouse, Chris Heap and Rob Corner.

Ribb were a far better side in the second half despite immediately conceding another soft try from a hopeful kick which Baxendale latched on to and scored under the posts for the accurate boot of Lomas to convert again.

Ribb came to life, in the second half and penetrated the home defence four times with either interceptions or clean breaks.

Matthew Dakin made 40 metres and a powerful run by skipper Dan Watson resulted in a try for Moon which he converted.

Ribb eventually got a second try by James Dugdale in the 78th minute which was converted by Moon to finish the scoring This was a wake up call for Ribb. On the evidence of this game they lack scoring pace and their defence is at times brittle.Chapman has to make too many saving tackles.