A Classical game of two halves, in which Ripon set out to build on their recent good form and improve on their recent indiscipline and extend their unbeaten run to four games. All started well and with the visitors looking like they were going to implode through their own poor discipline at first, in-fighting and sheer ineptness at times, The Blues squandered a 37 – 5 half time lead to let Corinthians not only back into the game with two second half Tries, but also almost a clean sheet for Penalty offences versus Ripon’s 17 penalty offences, three yellow and one red cards.

It's not every week one would bemoan the achievement of five league points and a significant points difference of over 20 between the sides, but at the expense of conceding nearly twice as many Penalties as the opposition over the whole game, with a massive ten to one in favour of the visitors in the second half, game management must be improved upon, no matter how one views the decision-making ability of the sole arbiter of fact on the pitch. On that note and respecting that the game at this or any level cannot take place without a Referee, there was a hint of a Trojan Horse about this week’s official. The lulling into a false sense of security for the hosts, with so many early Penalties going their way and a yellow card for dissent to a visitor’s forward at the end of the first quarter, one could be forgiven for thinking this was going to be a dream day for The Blues. Despite four first half Tries and a cornucopia of possession, the dream fast turned into a nightmare and Corinthians battled and battered their way back into the game, in not quite a modern-day re-enactment of Thermopylae, but enough to win them the second half and restore their pride.

Ripon, with two league games to go, now languish in 5th place in Counties 2 Yorkshire with 55 points and being chased hard by Yarnbury. The top four teams all need to play at least one of the others in the remaining two weeks, so if all results go in Ripon’s favour, that’s the highest they will end up this season. No disgrace by any means and a solid launch pad for the end of season cup competitions and the delights of what next season brings.

Selection this week looked like another roll of the Tombola drum, with a total of twelve changes from last week, eight positional and four recalls. Starting at the back, Mikey Bray resumed his Stoic oversight of the game from Full Back and clocked up a creditable 19 points with the boot for a 100% place kicking record this week, comprising 3 Penalty Goals and 5 Conversions. Burt maintained his spot on the Right Wing, seeing plenty of action, but frustratingly just short of getting on the scoreboard. Henry Hanson took to the Left Wing and again, whilst not getting close enough to score, put in a determined effort with and without ball in hand. The Centres, saw the recall of Prewett at Inside, with a typically aggressive Spartan performance and Woolfenden to add his pace and guile to the game and bagging a first half Try for his trouble. Archie Thompson looked a natural again at Number 10 and put in a commanding shift with his precision distribution, pin point territorial kicking and hard as nails defence. Tom Graham added his Olympian presence at Scrum Half and “bossed the base” sufficiently to maximise the hosts scrum power and get himself on the scoreboard with a first half Try.

Up front, Evans and Dalby put in another Herculean performance at Prop, the latter grabbing two first half Tries and due to an immense effort in all phases of the game, earned the coveted Player of the Day Waistcoat. Hopefully the alterations to fit his ample frame won’t take too long and he will be able to wear it with pride soon. Hanging about in the middle was James “Adonis” Pearce at Hooker, doing his best to maintain his good looks for the post-match celebrations. Locking the scrum for the fourth successive week, were Joe Middlemiss, carrying hard and tackling harder and stand in Skipper Barker, whose attempts at statesmanship as far as managing the Referee was concerned, hung in tatters like a Macedonian peasant’s toga.

All change again in the back row, but some familiar and welcome recalls with Burgin at Open and Wharton at Blind Side and Perez given the thumbs up to play this week at Number 8. In a week in which Nick “Lucky” Perez managed to finish the game with his all of his fingers present, though not all in working order, the plucky Oklahoman snatched a second half Try out of nowhere to recover some dignity for the Blues.
Warming the bench to finish in style and working through a decent rotation, were Newcombe and Slator to cover anywhere in the pack between them and a welcome return to the fray for Jack Thomson to add some go forward to the backs.

The air was cold, still and cloudy and with the majority of the sizeable gathering of sponsors choosing to stay indoors for much of the game, the match played out in front of a relatively small, but at times highly interactive crowd.
Opting to play downhill and with what threatened to be sunshine at their backs, Ripon kicked off high through Bray and caused immediate bother for Corinthians. The bobbling ball was snapped up by Perez and the first tackle nearly snapped off his head. So within a minute of play, Bray lined up to slot the first of his eight place kicks of the day to open the scoring at 3 – 0.
Some more exchanges saw Ripon press again into the visitor’s half and with their third Penalty in 9 minutes, Bray slotted his second Penalty Goal to take the score to 6 – 0. From the restart, Perez fielded the kick and set off to the left and through the half backs linked in with Woolfenden. Nobody could stop the “Wolf Man” as he weaved his way though the defence to touch down under the posts for The Blues’ first Try. Bray Converted to take the score to 13 – 0 in as many minutes.

Soon the visitor’s indiscretions were piling up and a further Penalty Goal from Bray took the score to 16 – 0 at 15 minutes. One could be forgiven for thinking that the next play would lead to a complete rout, but the second half performance put paid to that. Seizing the moment however, Barker fielded the restart securely and fed Prewett to make some ground. Wharton was on hand to take the ball up the touch line and Tom Graham joined the party to make a one-man Phalanx that bludgeoned its way though the remaining defence to score Ripon’s second Try. Bray made no mistake again and the scoreboard, when it eventually registered, clock up 23 – 0.

As the first quarter drew to a close, tempers started to fray and an unseemly post tackle event escalated into a full-blown handbag waving event on the far touchline. Whether that was seen as an open invitation for anyone to join in or not, many players from both sides, as well as seemingly innocent bystanders, looked to be fully engaged in the peace-making process. The outcome was yet another Penalty to Ripon and from the touch kick, Wharton made good ground from the line out. From the breakdown, Graham fed Middlemiss to carry straight and then Dalby was on hand to batter his way through the defenders like skittles to score under the posts. Bray added the conversion to neaten the score at 30 – 0 at 22 minutes and at that point it was anyone’s guess as to what could possibly go wrong.

In a bizarre turn of events, the rest of the second quarter saw a complete reversal of fortunes and Ripon seemingly penalised for every time they went near the ball. This was emphasised by Burt’s yellow card for alleged handling on the ground in open play.
Corinthians seized on the power play opportunity and caught the otherwise solid Ripon defence napping with a quickly taken Penalty to achieve an unconverted Try and take the score to 30 – 5.

Save for the 32nd minute riposte which saw Dalby clock up his second Try after some slick passing and sleight of hand from Barker, with once he was back in the game, Bray’s Conversion took the score back up to 37 – 5; the final few minutes of the half saw Ripon penalised six more times and the visitors gaining confidence and momentum. The first half whistle couldn’t come soon enough following Ripon’s second yellow card offence, when Middlemiss was despatched for a tackle misdemeanour.

The second half saw The Blues bring on all three replacements for fresh legs and perhaps a more disciplined approach to managing the Referee and the ascendency of the opposition. Not a great start though as the visitors benefitted from a poor restart and from a line out at the end of the first minute, shifted the ball quickly to their elusive backs, who evaded all attempts at tackling and added to their score with a Converted Try to take the score to 37 – 12.

Things then went from bad to worse, with more Penalty decisions going against the hosts and more ground gained by Corinthians. Insult was added to injury when Barker took Ripon’s third yellow card for some form of indiscretion which wasn’t clear and again for the third time, The Blues were down to 14 men. Some respite came at the turn of the final quarter, when from a defensive 5-metre scrum near the Corinthians’ line, the ball spurted out of the back and Perez with lightning reflexes punced to claim Ripon’s fifth Try. Again, Bray was on point with the Conversion to take the score to 44 – 12.

In a repeat of the end of the first half, the final quarter of the game saw a further flurry of six Penalties in quick succession to Corinthians. With Ripon unsure whether to compete at rucks, make passes to each other, or event tackle the opposition, whatever they did was wrong and incurred Penalties. The situation was further exacerbated by a second yellow card to Barker, Ripon’s fourth in all, for checking the decision with the Referee and of course, it being his second offence, an automatic red card. Thus back down to 14 men again and an opposition with the passion to keep going to the end, the inevitable third Try came Corinthians’ way on just over 40 minutes. The missed conversion left the score at 44 – 17, which flattered the visitors somewhat and could only leave Ripon guessing how many points they may have scored if they’d played with 15 men for the duration?

A few further minutes of injury time were insufficient to give the visitors any further advantage and so the game fizzled out at 45 minutes, with a decent enough bonus point win for The Blues, but some serious questions still, about game management and discipline.
Next Saturday 11th March, The Blues are on the road again for their penultimate league fixture and a double header with 1st and 2nd XVs travelling up to Settle to take on North Ribblesdale. A great opportunity for the senior playing strength of the club to travel together and hopefully celebrate a “Blue Rinse” together. All travelling support will be very welcome for the 3.00pm kick offs.