Wetherby beat Ripon with four try victory

After a positive start to the season last week against Yarnbury, Wetherby travelled to Ripon full of confidence. Since their return to Yorkshire 2 Wetherby have snatched victory from Ripon every time they have played them; a record they were keen to keep. Seb Davies came in to the side for his debut in place of Jonathon Fox, while Bryn Kitching and Dan McCleary returned as loose forwards in the absence of Sam Mayhew (injury) and Fran Ortelli (gypsy).

Ripon kicked off and had a stinker as they kicked it straight out on the full giving Wetherby a centre-field scrum. In the absence of el serpiente, last weeks man of the match, it was the turn of la jirafa James Gibson to rule the roost from number eight. A fine charge off the back of the scrum put Wetherby into the 22 as Ripon conceded a penalty.

After a hit and miss line-out display last week, Wetherby secured good ball and broke from the catch and drive. They kept the ball tight and fired the heavy artillery into the Ripon defence, but in the end it was the light armoured vehicle who broke the line. Adam Shaw, looking like a Jaffa cake without the chocolate on with his new hair cut, slammed the ball down and scored his first try for the first fifteen. 0-5.

Wetherby continued to press their foot on the gas after a big surge from the kick off from Stephen Hoather. The energy seemed too much for the home team in the early stages as Wetherby were awarded a penalty. Up stepped the cold-blooded reptilian hero of last week, Archie Youlden, to add the extras. 0-8.

Wetherby continued to be the dominant force in the first half, buoyed by their impressive scrum. The tight five got a sniff near the Ripon line and relentlessly ground down the home pack to allow James Gibson to dot down at the back and extend the red and whites lead. 0-15.

After a tough start for Ripon, their response was a credit to their work ethic. They increased their physicality and were led from the front by their captain in the second row, who showed incredible dexterity to cheap-shot everything that moved while maintaining constant contact between his tongue and the referee’s backside.

Despite a solid defensive effort by the red and whites for ten minutes, a kick in behind caused total chaos and resulted in a five metre scrum. Some strong play from the Ripon centres forced Wetherby into conceding a penalty in front of the posts and Ripon closed the gap to two scores. 3-15.

In a physical arm wrestle of the game, the letter of the law was being pushed to the edge frequently. One of those occasions however was not when Andrew Trotman held up the ball in a tackle in the midfield. Somehow the referee adjudged there was contact with the head and sent the silver tongued winged for a ten minute rest.

Wetherby just needed to close out the half unscathed whilst down to 14 men, but the old man of the Wetherby team got old manned himself. A Ripon quick penalty saw their senior second row throw his head towards the arm of Jim Levenstein’s dad, Danny Warden. The referee fell for it hook, line and sinker and Wetherby went into half time with 13 men on the pitch.

Half time: Ripon 7-15 Wetherby

With Wetherby down to thirteen men and being led by their vice vice vice captain, the first ten minutes of the second half were always going to be tough. Despite some outstanding defending from George Gilbert and Dan McCleary, Ripon eventually found they had too many men for Wetherby and scored in the corner. 10-15.

With Ripon smelling blood, Wetherby switched on and played the most satisfying seven minutes of rugby of the season as they stuck it up the jumper. Real rugby purist stuff. When Wetherby returned to a full compliment they went back to the scrum, and as James Gibson fumbled at the back, wily forward Jim Greenwood picked his pocket and scored Wetherby’s third try. 10-20.

The Wetherby engine was purring nicely. Danny Warden controlled the line-out effectively upon his return to the field, and the industrious Matt Bartle was everywhere. When the ball went to the backs Seb Davies looked threatening with ball in hand, but Ripon had grown into the game to cancel Wetherby out. Just as things were getting boring the referee spiced things up again with another dubious high tackle call, this time sending part time raver part time good bloke Will Atherton to the bin.

Again Ripon looked to make the extra man count. After good ball retention and strong carrying from the home side’s impressive number eight, the ball was recycled wide to their big outside centre who slipped the tackle of Bradley Mason and sold Matt Mulchinock a big dummy as he ran under the posts to score. Unfortunately for Matt the dummy was caught on camera at the perfect moment, poor lad. 17-20.

Wetherby replied well and piled the pressure on before a clearing kick from Ripon looked to have relieved them. The only man to spot the ball had stayed in was Stephen Hoather who set off on a bulldozing run. A slight stumble meant he couldn’t recover to keep the ball alive, but a quick recycle went through the hands for Andrew Trotman to step twice off the left foot in trademark fashion and score the bonus point fourth try. 17-25.

A lapse in concentration saw Ripon use their well drilled line-out to threaten the Wetherby line, and lead to a late try to close the game to three points. With a minute left on the clock, Andy Gair’s red and white army retained control of the ball. They squeezed out the game with another trademark scrum and the ball was kicked out of play to give Wetherby their second win of the new season and put them into fourth place.

Full time: Ripon 22-25 Wetherby

MoM: Steve Hoather - sometimes there’s nothing more satisfying than watching a dirty hooker at work.

DoD: Bradley Mason - Late to arrive without good excuse for the second week in a row. Poor from a senior player.