In dramatically different weather conditions from last week’s Arctic gales and torrential rain, The Blues ended the first half of the season with a festive bang and an emphatic victory in West Leeds on Saturday. Ripon ripped the rule book to shreds this weekend with a near perfect display of making the best of their advantages by scoring over 70% of their points from penalties awarded and keeping a clean sheet despite being reduced to fourteen men for three quarters of the game.

Instrumental in this week’s performance, in calm and dry, if a tad dull conditions, was the spectacular team work on display, which allowed the entire squad to play to its strengths, with some powerful displays of close support and opportunities taken.

Despite their lowly position in the bottom half of the league table, Bramley are a force to be reckoned with at home and have so far gone undefeated on their own turf this season. Again, The Blues took no notice of this admirable record and from Skipper James Pearce’s second minute try to open the scoring, went on to dominate all phases of the game with a seven try rout to no reply. Discipline again, could have been better though and with thirteen penalties conceded apiece, this week’s referee seemed reluctant to let the game flow. Ripon however, whilst falling foul of the interpretation of the high tackle law, were penalised later with the loss of Daley. The hosts conversely, failed to capitalise on any advantage both from their penalty count or the loss of personnel to Ripon. In total, 33 of Ripon’s points came directly or indirectly from penalties and showed just how important maintaining discipline will be in closer games.

The benefits of a stable squad are self-evident and with Ripon only making four changes in this week’s selection, the results spoke for themselves. Pocket rocket Will Barrett, back from university for Christmas was the only newcomer this week in the Centre to replace the injured Take and three other positional changes made this a formidable line up. A completely unchanged pack for the first time in many seasons was undoubtedly also critical to Ripon’s success, as they produced bucket loads of clean possession from the set piece and ran riot in open play. Tom Graham moved out to the Wing to accommodate Barrett and Borchard started at Scrum Half, confining Harry Drane to the bench as a finisher. Elsewhere, the squad was identical to last weeks’ line up and the excitement of them all playing together again was palpable.

The importance of accurate goal kicking also played through in this game. With six out of seven conversion attempts going over, despite using three kickers – Daley, Bennett and then Harry Drane. They were the icing on the cake and again a solid demonstration of what consistency in selection can deliver.

From the kick off, Ripon recycled possession well to press deep into home territory. A clearance to the home 10 metre line gave Ripon the line out throw in and from Roebuck’s clean take, the midfield was opened up by Daley and Dalby. Close support saw a further six phases play out before Pearce emerged in the loose to open the scoring, Daley converting for 0 – 7. After the dramatic opening, Ripon settled nicely into their groove and a speedy break away by Charlie Borchard increased the score after six minutes, with Daley adding the conversion for 0 – 14. Bramley gradually started to make more of their scraps and forced their way into Ripon’s territory at the end of the first quarter and it was in fending off a counter attack from the hosts, Daley succumbed to the referee’s reaction to an alleged high tackle and was despatched with a straight red card. Undeterred by the loss, Ripon stepped up a gear and from a penalty line out, Perez carried hard in midfield to release Bennett and then Austin. From the next tackle, Bennett saw a gap to grub through and Aborosio “Abo” Sovatabua flew through to chase, hack on, scoop up and score the first of his hat trick of tries. Bennett’s first conversion attempt in ten years flopped lifelessly beside the goal for 0 - 19.

Restarting strongly, Bramley pressed the Ripon line again and stout defence by The Blues held firm. A penalty for dissent from the hosts, just short of the Ripon line gifted quick thinking Borchard the opportunity to tap and go. Quick hands via Bennett to Abo put the Flying Fijian into space and saw him sprint the full 70 metres to score his second and Ripon’s bonus point winning fourth try. Bennett made no mistake with the conversion for a healthy 0 – 26 lead. Ripon responded strongly from the next restart and were unfortunate when a speedy attack from Austin and Graham was bundled into touch on the stroke of half time.

The third quarter saw Bramley clearly motivated from their half time talk and throw everything they had at Ripon. Pretty much the next 25 minutes saw repeated attacks by the hosts making ground but not getting close enough to scoring. Ripon had plenty of ball and continued to dominate the set piece but gritty and tenacious defending by Bramley looked like keeping the score where it was.

As the pitch floodlights gradually illuminated the descending gloom, so did Ripon’s performance become more enlightened after 34 minutes of the second half. At a point in the game when many sides would be content with their lot and just hold onto the lead, Ripon, having been caught out late on so many times this season, tuned on the after-burners and picked up the pace for the last few minutes. This simply blew the opposition away and started with Abo scoring his third try, after Middlemiss stole a home line out. From the mini drive, quick ball went both ways before the Wing scythed through the defence to score and with Drane taking over the kicking duties, took the score to 0 – 33.

Next up after an entertaining interchange between what seemed to be the entire pack, Billy Burgin plunged over for his first 1st XV try and Ripon’s sixth, converted by Drane for 0 – 40. And finally… with the clock ticking away and the darkness closing in, the Ripon pack again showed their handling skills to break out of a last-ditch attempt by Bramley to get on the scoreboard. Some slick handling saw Graham released down his touchline and when he chipped the opposition, Abo was on hand to hack on and chase. Unable to stay on his feet to finish off, Abo offloaded to Butterill and then on to Tom Roebuck to plunge over for the final try. Bennett added the conversion for the final score of 0 – 47 and jubilation in the Ripon camp at their second successive win after the recent run of defeats.

What a difference a couple of weeks can make to a team that had almost forgotten how to hold on to a lead and win a game. A solid and very entertaining, all-round team performance that The Blues will be proud of and a fitting way to end the first half of the season.
With a well-deserved two-week layoff to rest, recuperate and partake in some festive cheer, Ripon will appreciate the break, before returning to action on 5th January 2025, in what promises to be a mouthwatering encounter at league leaders Yarnbury. The kick off will be at 3.00pm, all travelling supporters very welcome.