Old Grovians 3 North Ribblesdale 57

MICK Thwaite and Matt Speres starred as North Ribblesdale secured a resounding win over Old Grovians on their first visit to Apperley Bridge in Yorkshire Division Two.

Thwaite kicked 22 points and Speres crossed for four tries as the visitors dominated proceedings following a difficult opening ten minutes, in which the home side's forwards caused problems with their superior strength.

Player-coach Carl Paterson's influence was clearly seen with the backline's increased fluency. The mobility of Padley was utilised well and Speres exploited the firm conditions with his tries, repeatedly bursting the midfield defence.

Ribb, despite playing mostly in their own half for the first fifteen minutes, broke out twice, and John Padley and Ray Fromm forced two penalties which Thwaite coolly converted.

Grovians produced several high hanging kicks from their restarts and after one, they were camped on Ribb's twenty two, eventually earning three points from a scrum penalty.

They had a number of chances to add to that score, particularly in the first half, but good scramble defence kept them out.

Paterson was a calming influence under pressure and the space he found behind the home defence was invaluable. A raking kick forced Grovians into own twenty-two.

From that, Richard Wood won some loose ball under the posts, a scrum resulted and a blindside ruck won ball, allowing Speres to saunter in. Mick Thwaite converted and he knocked over a penalty for offside soon after.

Ribb spent a lot of time in Grovians half after the break. The hosts were depleted by two injuries in their forward line and were tiring. Ribb's scrum began to dominate and once this happened, the game was over as a contest.

Speres had a field day as Ribb turned up the heat in attack. He scored three more tries and had two disallowed.

Thwaite's place kicking was immaculate. He converted all four tries from Speres and another from his brother Andrew's try. His only blemishes were two difficult long range conversions across the wind.

There were also tries in the opener for Tom Frik and debutant Freddie Brown as Ribb's superior fitness in the second half told.

Next week, there will be sterner opposition with old rivals West Park Leeds at home. Importantly though, Ribb look a better balanced side and their stern defence will be a factor in what has always been a tough league.