Ripon RUFC make superb start to New Year with away win over promotion rivals Yarnbury RFC
Ripon RUFC made a superb start to 2025, beating promotion rivals Yarnbury 30-16 away from home.
The Blues headed into Saturday’s fixture third in the Yorkshire Two standings, 11 points behind their opponents and 20 shy of runaway leaders Dinnington.
And whilst defeat would have all but ended the Mallorie Park outfit’s hopes of catching Yarnbury and bagging the division’s runners-up spot, victory means that the gap between the sides now stands at just six points.
Despite making a strong start to proceedings, Ripon fell behind in West Yorkshire when the hosts kicked a 14th-minute penalty.
The Blues kept pressing hard, but it took until the 32nd minute for them to score their first points of the day. A penalty led to an attacking line-out on the Yarnbury 22-metre line, and following a textbook catch-and-drive move, Tom Roebuck touched down.
Joe Middlemiss was then held up over the line just before the interval, however the visitors were not to be denied in the second half.
Almost straight from the restart, Nick Daley booted over a penalty to make it 8-3, then added another to further stretch the away advantage.
A try against the run of play, followed by a penalty, then saw Yarnbury level matters at 11-11, but with less than 10 minutes to go, Ripon re-asserted their grip on the contest.
First, Daley found space to jink though the final lines of the home defence before offloading to Harry Veitch, who finished off.
Then, on 76 minutes, the Fijian duo of Aborosio Sovatabua and debutant Sakiusa Komaitai combined to good effect, with the former going over for Daley to convert.
With time almost up, some fine interplay between Daley, Sam Austin, Harvey Hooley and Middlemiss set up Tom Graham to finish with a flourish, scoring Ripon’s fourth try and securing them a bonus point.
Daley added the extra two for a 30-11 lead, and although Yarnbury managed to touch down again before the final whistle, the damage had already been done.
Next up for Ripon is a derby showdown with local rivals Northallerton at Mallorie Park this Saturday afternoon.