Coming off the back of an impressive victory last week, Wetherby were keen to build up some momentum as they travelled to Ripon on a baking hot Saturday afternoon. Unavailability and injuries meant an under strength squad made the journey, and this unavailability in particular may mean that nothing I write will be close to what actually happened as I'm guessing a lot of it.

As the game kicked off there was an heir of familiarity about proceedings as Wetherby immediately sat on the back foot. They soaked up much of the early pressure despite a clear lack of ideas from the opposition team. In the absence of one of the usual bouncers, Wetherby phoned the agency and were returned to full compliment as Tom Bottomley joined Matty Harrison in the second row. Both started powerfully in defence with Bottomley using his biggest deterrent to put off the ripon attackers; his incessant bloody moaning!

The return of gym greenwood saw much of the performances seen last year, with a tackle count as high as a night in the life of Jonny Day. In the beating sunshine, Jim looked every bit the Wetherby player as his red skin and white eyebrows colour coordinated against the Wetherby strip.

As Ripon failed to break the Wetherby line, here's what I assume happened. Wetherby turned over ball, probably through go go gadget James Gibson, and recycled the ball to bingo lover Harry Kaye. Despite his mind being on double dating with his brother, he found a hole in the Ripon defence and slithered under the posts for the games opening try. 0-7.

With Wetherby being held at scrum time, and the line-out creaking, Ripon again tried to claw back into the game but we're kicking away too much ball. Club foot Danny Warden from full-back displayed his full array of right-foot only kicking to clear the lines, but some slack defence allowed Ripon to reply with a deserved try. 7-7.

As Wetherby grew into the game, the big ball carriers stepped to the fore. Hair ball Liam Hogan moved to inside centre so he could be separated from his sparring partner Jonathon Fox in the front row. Elliott Lloyd Kinsey Griffiths was a bigger carrier than George Michael, as he battered the Ripon defence. All the forward pressure resulted in a trundle from Matt Harrison as he bashed his way over the line. 7-14.

Ripon tried to extract revenge on big Matty by teaming up to somehow lift his legs above his frame and turn him upside down to make him look like a space hopper! Danny Warden slotted the resulting penalty to give Wetherby a more commanding lead. 7-17.

As half time approached, strong work from Graham Bulmer in the back row allowed Wetherby one more opportunity. Local hero Bulmer turned the ball over and allowed the backs space to move. Tom Bottomley naturally found himself in a wingers spot as he off-loaded to Jack Kaye. Jack trapped the ball in his giant bottom lip and managed to sulk his way to the try line. 7-20.

A brief exchange of penalties, presumably as a result of Myles Oates being inexplicably unable to pass a ball, ended the half. Half time: Ripon 10-23 Wetherby.

Wetherby started the second half strongly despite the set piece faltering for the first time this season. Even the usually indomitable Bradley Mason found the referee cold to his usual flirtations. He flicked his hair and twiddled his ridiculous goatee, but all to no avail. Ripon created opportunities but were generally well snuffed out by a strong Barney Roberts performance. Singing Careless Whisper into the coaches ear must be having a positive effect!

Despite a strong start to the half from Wetherby, Ripon continued to feed off mistakes from the visitors. Despite a lack of creativity in attack, some weak first up tackles allowed the Ripon prop to score and recover from the blushes of being floored by Kinsey. 17-23.

As the game started to draw to a close, Ripon chased the game and started to avert from plan A, by making two passes from the breakdown rather than one. As often happens in these situations, this played into Wetherby hands as more turnover ball allowed Jack Kaye to exhibit his pace to finish off a last minute try to seal the game. 17-30.

Overall, a good Wetherby performance from an under strength side which showed plenty of strength in depth, although much tougher opposition await this season.

MoM: James Gibson - Outstanding in broken play as he hounded the Ripon attackers.

DoD: Danny Warden - so right footed it hurts!