North Ribblesdale 16 Old Otliensians 12

NORTH Ribblesdale maintained their unbeaten record and retained their position at the top of Yorkshire Two after winning a gripping encounter at Grove Park.

The key factors in Ribb’s success were their backline defence and superior line-out against an Otliensians side whose back play caught the eye.

Only the superb tackling of Ryan Sumner and Johnny Moore and their stuttering line-out prevented the visitors from making a bigger impact on the scoreboard.

Ribb were also well served by the boot of Mick Thwaite who landed three penalties and a conversion.

Otliensians started well putting Ribb under early pressure, but a fine tackle by Nathan Harding prevented a score.

The home side squandered a good chance when Tom Frik broke down the left wing and threw a pass that went astray when he might have been better served going for the line.

Otliensians pressured Ribb in the scrum and used this secure possession to move the ball wide but couldn’t crack open the resolute home defence.

Ribb had their moments in the first half using possession stolen from the visitors’ line-out to gain valuable territory and scored first with a Mick Thwaite penalty.

Otliensians got due reward with an equalising penalty just before half-time.

Normally the attacking team gets more penalties, and this was the case but a stuttering line-out meant they could not get the ground from line kicks with Will Booth and Andy Thwaite pilfering possession to relieve pressure.

The visitors started the second half well and gave Ribb a lesson in flowing rugby from their fluent backline.

Ribb's defence was up to the task and won line-out ball to drive Otliensians into their own half where a penalty was converted by Mick Thwaite.

Ribb fumbled the kick-off allowing the visitors to win good loose ball from which they engineered a move featuring Joe Armitage and Will Cooper put centre Luke Cowdell away.

He showed an impressive turn of speed to go under the posts for a converted try.

This put Ribb 10-6 down and was a significant score. Otliensians were dominant but Ribb's defence held firm and replacement Richard Wood made a 40-metre break to get to the line but was tackled and could not get the ball down.

This got Ribb into the 22 where they battered away at an obdurate defence without getting anywhere.

They did put Matt Speres into the centre to provide more bite, but the critical score came from moving the ball wide for the speedy Freddy Howarth to dive over for a converted try

This took the steam out of Otliensians and Ribb finished the match comfortably with Mick Thwaite rounded off the scoring with a late penalty.

This was a resilient performance, but it is said that winning while not playing well is a sign of a good team, this week they have a tough away trip to Wath on Dearne looking to register a fifth win in five games.