A DOMINANT pack helped North Ribblesdale come away with an 18-15 win on the road at Ripon on Saturday.

Ribb overpowered a big Ripon eight and the weather and the heavy pitch meant the Ripon backs could not get into the game.

Ribb scored two close range tries by Ian Close and Liam Wallbank and 10-metre gallop by John Thwaite. Mick Thwaite also kicked a penalty in the first half.

Then just before half-time, Ripon No 10 Morgan Clark engineered a sparkling try that was finished by Taylor.

With a half-time lead of 18-5, Ribb were very much in charge.

Ripon, however, had the stiff breeze at their backs and were very much up for it starting strongly with an early penalty by Clark.

They did suffer a blow from the kick-off with a knee injury to their best playmaker Clark, and this may well have cost them the game.

Ripon's problem was that they could kick with the wind to get territory, but in poor conditions with numerous scrums Ripon received terrible ball which they could do little with and Ribb's midfield defence of Ryan Sumner and Nick Taylor were impermeable.

Ripon kicked a further penalty and had a chance to go for the win with a penalty on the posts.

But with their league position (fourth), a draw was no good for Ripon and they went for the scrum, where they were driven back and lost the ball giving Ribb a good away win.

Nick Taylor had a good game at outside centre with his strength and pace complementing Sumner's direct running.