Wetherby beat Ripon to make it three in a row

After the jubilation of last week's victory, Wetherby looked to be on a high as they hosted Ripon to Grange Park. The two sides went in to the game level on points in the league table, which was reflected in a tightly fought encounter in the return fixture when Wetherby came out on top.

Wetherby started brightly with a early surge by young buck Rhys Thomson who darted round like a gazelle trying to escape a poacher. This created plenty of room for the backs to work in, and had a three on one. Unfortunately the ball made its way into the hands of Jack Kaye who turned up looking like Ewan McGregor in the scene from trainspotting where he's locked in his bedroom.

Watching the first minute proved a little too much for Harry Freeman. The game was a little too quick for him, so he conveniently felt for his hamstring giving Sam Mayhew a chance to press for a starting spot. Wetherby did well from the resulting line-out and forced a scrum, resulting in a penalty. 3-0.

With their tails up Wetherby surged down the pitch once more. Rob Adair was proving difficult to deal with as he dominated the Ripon openside every time he got the ball. Despite early troubles with the line-out, a quick ball off the top and some willing runners gave Harry Kaye plenty of options. A hole opened up in front of him and allowed him to cut a nice line, before his white line fever got the better of him. A cracking show and go put him under the posts for the day's first try. 10-0.

With a healthy lead to start the game, Ripon finally decided to pull their finger out and forced play into the Wetherby half. They were on the end of a fortuitous decision after Mattie Chappell and Bradley Mason walked over the Ripon scrum. Nobody knew why it was a penalty to Ripon, but it was taken quickly and nearly caught Wetherby napping but for a crucial intervention by Jack Kaye who was given a yellow card for knocking on.

Despite several attempts to clear their lines, Wetherby faced wave after wave of Ripon attacks. The back row, led by human cannon Sam Mayhew, defended like the 300 Spartans defending the hot gates. The big tackling caused the big talking Ripon captain to knock-on twice close to the line. It's always a shame when someone with a lot to say can't quite back up their chat with meaningful rugby, but I guess that's how it goes sometimes.

Ripon stayed in the Wetherby 22 for the best part of twenty minutes, before a lapse in concentration, combined with a well executed line-out finally allowed Ripon to score before half-time. A touchline conversion made the score more representative of the game.

Half-time: Wetherby 10-7 Ripon.

The home side made a strong start to the second half. Despite another showing of freakish physicality by second row Bryn Kitching, he was replaced after mistaking the question the physio asked him. Instead of hearing "what happened to your knee?", he heard "what were the three little characters in the rice Krispies advert called?" And yelled "SNAP, CRACKLE, POP!"

The introduction of Tom Bottomley in his place seemed to work a treat. After some heavy forward carries got Wetherby close to the line. Steve Hoather came close, before Tom Bottomley edged over the line to give Wetherby a vital score. For one sweet moment Bottomley stopped moaning and the world sounded beautiful. 15-7.

No sooner had Bottomley's moaning stopped, did Bradley Mason start one of his tantrums as he was lucky to stay on the field after one outburst. Maybe we should suggest to referees that the screamed louder than Bradley and slowly lower their voices until he is quiet, like the baby books advise.

As the second half wore on, the game became scrappy. Myles Oates lamented the lack of back play, but given his horrendous scoring record this year, he can't really be surprised. Sam Mayhew continued to impress in defence, but after getting bored of tackling with his shoulder, decided using his head would be more exciting only to get up with birds flying round his head like a loony tunes character.

The game entered the last ten minutes with both sides hammering each other physically. Rob Adair continued his assault on the confidence of Ripon's openside, with some alpha moves Joe Rogan himself would be proud of. Unfortunately he backed this up with a deliberate knock-on as Ripon chased the game and found himself yellow carded.

A minute later, the inevitable happened. Having seen two of his comrades get yellow cards, Mattie Chappell got itchy feet. If there's going to be yellow cards thrown about, Mattie wants to be involved. A triple pike with one and a half twists on top of a scrum-half getting the ball out of a ruck proved just the ticket as he too was sent his marching orders. Wetherby had six minutes to play with 13 men, and Ripon converted the penalty to get within one score. 15-10.

Despite high tension levels, Wetherby closed out the game well and marched the their third successive victory.

Final-score: Wetherby 15-10 Ripon.

MoM: Sam Mayhew - Mammoth performance in defence. There's going to be a few selection headaches this week!

DoD: Harry Freeman - Only lasted a minute. Story of his life really.