YORKSHIRE TWO

Wath on Dearne 29

North Ribblesdale 20

NORTH Ribblesdale crashed to a defeat in Yorkshire Two, despite taking an early lead.

Ribb started well and, though they struggled for line-out ball, they could have given Wath a sterner game if they had moved the ball around for the whole game instead of the first 10 minutes.

Ribb also struggled in the line-out the whole match and in the scrum for the second half. Wath have a solid game plan based on a big pack and they were well marshalled by their nine and 10.

Jonny Moore and Matt Speres had good games with Moore bursting through the centre several times and Speres was unlucky not to score at least once and put Tom Frik in at the death.

John Padley incurred two sin binnings, meaning Ribb played 20 minutes with 14 men.

Wath scored first with a penalty before Ribb raced into a 10-point lead with a try by Andy Thwaite after a good run by Frik and a penalty by Mick Thwaite.

They moved the ball around with some effect stretching the home defence despite the narrow pitch, but then after spending 60 minutes engaging in a losing arm wrestle with the huge home pack, they were 29-13 down until the last 10 minutes when they scored a late try to close the deficit. Ribb conceded at least 15 penalties during the contest.

Whitlam kicked two conversions and five penalties.

Ribb's lead lasted until just before half-time when a blindside break from a dominant scrum gave Hopkins a try, well converted by Whitlam to give the home side a 16-13 lead.

Ribb turned round with the breeze at their backs but the scrum came under pressure and this allied to a shaky line-out meant they were operating on slow uncertain possession.

For most of the second half Ribb toiled with slow or no ball. Despite this, Moore made several breaks punching through the middle, but the absence of Padley in the sin bin meant Ribb could not get the quick lose ball they needed to free Frik and Freddy Brown.

In the last 10 minutes Speres made two breaks but Ribb put down two chances and it was only late in the game when they managed to free Frik for a converted try.

This was a hard day at the office for the Ribb pack, the absence of a tight head prop to support John Thwaite means the scrum suffers.

Wath had two very big line-out jumpers and Ribb's throw in lost its usual accuracy so line out ball was scarce.

The penalty count was a critical factor and who knows what the score would have been without the huge penalty disparity.