NORTH Ribblesdale conceded four tries in the second half which saw home team Leodiensian run out 41-10 winners on Saturday.

The score did not tell the whole story, as Ribb were in the game for the first half, their midfield defence coping with Leos' sharp backs who were ever alert to counter-attacking opportunities.

Ribb clawed their way back into the game after gifting a try from the kick-off.

On 20 minutes, a period of pressure gave Mick Thwaite a penalty to get Ribb on the board to put the score at 5-3, but then they dropped the ball and lost possession on the kick-off and Leos' left winger went over for a converted try.

Ribb got back in the game with a converted try by Matt Speres to make the score 12-10.

Ribb gave Leos a hard time in the scrum, but their line-out was shaky with several throws going awry.

The game changed after half-time when Jonny Moore had a recurrence of a shoulder injury, and the loss of his hard tackling meant that Speres had to go into the centre.

This weakened Ribb's back row, as Speres is the most reliable winner of the ball on the ground.

Leos scored a dubious try after a speculative kick was clearly touched down by the defence.

This unsettled the side and Leos scored three more converted tries to run out easy winners.

Ribb had the superior scrum and an adequate line-out, but they did not capitalise on it. They rarely picked the ball up at the base of the scrum and never exploited the blind side.

With the pace Ribb have, they should exploit these opportunities to get their wingers into play but play the same old game of crashing first phase possession up the middle or kick the ball away, and kicking to this inventive counter-attacking side was fatal because Leos' backs were able to run the ball back through their powerful centres.

There were several good first half performances. Nathan Harding played a tidy game at scrum-half and in the first half put in some penetrative kicks behind the defence. Adam Middleton and Jim Tunney carry strongly and should be used more. Speres also carried well and was industrious in the loose.

Ribb are back home at Grove Park this Saturday when they host Barnsley.