Watching the sun go down over the gentle bluff that defines lower Calderdale from the higher ground beyond, was a sight to behold for the majority of spectators last Saturday and who’d have thought that “Sunset in Ossett” would actually be a thing of beauty? For the players however, despite the unpredicted clement weather, bright and unseasonally warm conditions, the sun, the wind and the slope played a key role in thwarting Ripon’s aspirations to leave this leafy suburb of Wakefield with five league points. As “earth, wind and fire” conspired against The Blues, so did the hosts, whose one-dimensional game paid off eventually and despite using the elements to some advantage in the first half, Ripon didn’t quite capitalise on the many advantages they had.

Turning around at half time in the lead and in the driving seat as far as penalties and favour with the referee were concerned, Ripon simply went off the boil in the second period and allowed their hosts to shut down the game and take the win. Ripon showed enterprise and invention and as did the opposition, scored all of their points from penalties awarded but crucially, made a small number of decisional errors that opened up the game for the taking. With as solid a set piece as ever, Ripon showed promise early on with quick clean ball, but weren’t able to build the phases as patiently as in previous weeks.

With a total of thirty-seven penalties blown by the referee of the day, that’s not so much a testament to the indiscipline of Ripon – with only 16 conceded: more perhaps due to the confidence of the man in the middle to let the game flow more? We will never know but with all the scores of the game arising from penalties and with a yellow card awarded apiece, the impact of maintaining discipline has to be key to winning games.

Ripon’s first half dominance in all phases of the game was rendered impotent by the spirit of the hosts, who pressed forward with their relentless one up runners and occasional wide balls to powerful running backs; and the slope and the wind to a degree. Ripon only have themselves to blame for not grabbing this game by the throat and closing it down with the talent available in the squad selected and will be kicking themselves for not remaining composed enough to avoid some elementary errors and perhaps wrong choices on the field.

Any league point taken from a game is a positive and the losing bonus point was as welcome as any and with other results being helpful to a degree, Ripon finished this round of league action in a decent third place behind Yarnbury and high-flying Dinnington. A wake-up call indeed for The Blues, to remain focused on discipline, keeping fifteen players on the pitch at all times, reacting to refereeing behaviour and concentrating on their own game.

After last week’s cancelled 1st XV game and a run out for a couple of aspirant new squad entrants in the 2nd XV match, this week’s selection was very much a matter of all change again, with some eleven differences from the full squad selected for the previous match two weeks ago. In total, there were five recalls to the squad, five positional changes and one debut for returnee Michael Morgan to add value from the bench later on.

Starting at the rear, child prodigy Henry Hanson returned to the fold at Full Back and looked to excite open play with his explosive pace and solid defensive qualities. Tom Graham returned to his comfort zone at Wing and showed remarkable composure in both attack and defence, as well as covering significant yardage with ball in hand. Matt Binks took the other Wing and like his colleague, put in some hard yards in attack and defence, but didn’t enjoy any success on the score sheet. The Centres saw yet another experimental pairing of Ollie Bennet and player-coach Nick Daley, both returning from injury. Both formed an impenetrable wall in defence, perhaps the nomenclature of the “thick blue line” being unkind, but by their combined actions, stifled their opposition into looking very ordinary.

At half back, Charlie Borchard looked to impress from the base of everything and was perhaps unlucky to have been caught in possession more times than were comfortable and so was limited in his ability to set the game alight. James Cooper at Number 10 got the back line moving from the decent quality possession available but was less successful in his appointed duty as nominated goal kicker, with only one out of four converted.

Up front, the now familiar line up of Koroiyadi, Pearce and Dalby, made a huge impression at set piece time and forced two all-important scrum penalties from the opposition. “Macka” Koroiyadi played his usual south sea island fast and loose style in open play and was critical to early moves. Pearce showed exceptional leadership throughout and provided the boost of the opening try of the game midway through the first quarter. Unselfishly, Pearce went on to take one for the team in the second half and was yellow carded for a breakdown misunderstanding. Dalby did what he does best and provided the cornerstone of the set piece and contributed effectively in open play, threatening the goal line with his presence on occasion. The second row saw the endless versatility that is Adam Newcombe. In his fourth decade of first team duties, this legend in his own lifetime, played at Lock, Hooker and Prop in this game alone and led by example to the callow youths around him, who could only gape in awe at his knowledge and execution of the game.

The back row was almost as familiar as in previous weeks, with man of the match Tom Austin giving his all as usual at Blind Side and Jacob Butterill keeping the Number 8 jersey for the foreseeable future. Gamekeeper turned poacher Tom Hesmondhalgh returned to the squad after a considerable lay off to add his powerful and terrier-like presence to the fray. This week’s bench saw Billy Fletcher return as a utility forward finisher and Harry Drane to add some attitude to proceedings. Last up was debutant Michael Morgan to add some energy as a back row replacement.

Ripon kicked off downhill, with the wind behind them and into the setting sun. The early kick off requested by the hosts in light of predicted stormy weather, turned out to be unnecessary as the sun beat down unopposed and relentlessly for the whole of the afternoon.

The Ripon mantra was to retain their shape and composure in attack and maintain their fearsome reputation in defence and that’s exactly what they did for the majority of the first half. Early exchanges saw both teams positioning themselves strongly, with Ripon looking to play wide early and Ossett looking to use their heavy cavalry in closer quarters. Both approaches proved unsuccessful for the first ten minutes until the visitors were gifted a penalty touch kick. Pearce threw in to the following line out, which Roebuck took cleanly and in true skipper style, Pearce finished off the driving maul by dotting down to open the scoring for The Blues. Cooper’s conversion attempt just missed for 0 -5.

Within the next ten minutes. Ossett broke out strongly and from a breakdown offence, reduced the deficit through a penalty goal for 3 – 5. Unperturbed however, Ripon riposted firmly to press back, through the strong running of Graham and Binks out wide and devastating combinations of the Ripon pack and centres. A home offence on twenty minutes gave Cooper the chance to enhance the lead and with his penalty goal took the score to 3 – 8. There the scoreline remained and despite efforts on both sides, repeated whistle blows for offences stifled the flow of the game and neither side was able to gain any further inroads.

The second half saw the hosts exploit the breeze and slope much better and to their advantage were able to piece together some strong attacks, forcing The Blues onto the back foot periodically. Ripon however, continued to build on their set piece dominance and caused the hosts all sorts of bother at scrum time.

An early penalty gave the hosts an attacking line out option, which they took well. The quick ball to the left saw the line crossed and all present averred to a ball held up decision, which the referee swiftly discounted. The home place kicker was on song with the conversion to take the lead at 10 – 8.

With Pearce yellow carded after ten minutes played, apart from his leadership on the pitch, the reshuffling of Newcombe to Hooker and the rest of the squad making up, the set piece remained just as dominant. The one-man overlap did however work to good effect and in the skipper’s absence, the hosts were able to cross the line again after thirteen minutes of the half, with a strong run from their Wing. The touchline conversion was again on point for an increase to 17 – 8.

The final quarter became more torrid with every minute. Pearce’s return to play was mirrored by the yellow carding of an Ossett back, but not to any significant detriment. Ripon’s discipline in the closing minutes held firm and well into injury time after a flurry of penalties against the hosts, The Blues managed to reduce the deficit to gain the all-important losing bonus point.

On forty-five minutes, Ripon played quickly from a penalty and pretty much all the pack handled before releasing the backs. Daley drifted out wide into space and the perfectly floated pass from Bennett let the player coach in for the last score of the game. Cooper’s joy with the tee ended in misery here and with the final whistle, the score of 17 – 13 was frustrating for Ripon and momentous for Ossett. The Blues have to build from here to develop resilience and fortitude. There are some challenging matches coming up that will need this still young and developing squad to dig deep and grow from.