Late try condemns Ripon RUFC to first home defeat of the season

The Blues had won four and drawn of their opening five Yorkshire Two outings at Mallorie Park, and looked to be on course to add another victory to that list with just two minutes of their showdown with Bramley Phoenix remaining.

Having fought back from 17-3 down to take a narrow lead, the hosts were undone at the death, with that result meaning that they are now winless in four matches.

Ripon made an extremely poor start to proceedings and found themselves trailing 10-0 with only 10 minutes on the clock as Bramley crossed twice.

Towards the end of the first quarter, Morgan Clark stepped up and landed a penalty goal, reducing the deficit at 10-3.

But, with Ripon down to 14 men after captain James Pearce was sin-binned for one of many alleged high tackles, Phoenix capitalised on their numerical advantage and added a converted try to their tally for a 17-3 lead.

Facing an uphill task, the home side did not waste any time feeling sorry for themselves and hit back before the half-hour mark.

Debutant centre James Collins seized the moment and demonstrated his electric pace and elusive running ability as he broke through the Bramley defence to touch down.

Steadily gaining the upper hand, Ripon pieced together some constructive phases, forcing Phoenix onto the back foot.

From a penalty, a line-out catch-and-drive went some 10 metres before Davies-Taylor emerged from the back of the maul to apply the finishing touch.

Clark made no mistake with his conversion kick, narrowing the gap at 17-15 as the half-time whistle sounded.

Ripon began the second half strongly and Clark was able to nudge his team into the lead for the first time with a well-struck penalty goal.

With 10 minutes remaining, the Blues were rewarded for their attempts to play some enterprising rugby with another kickable penalty, which Clark dispatched for 21-17.

But, on 78 minutes, Phoenix scored their fourth try of the afternoon to snatch a dramatic 22-21 success.