Ripon RUFC start season with back-to-back victories

Following on from last weekend’s narrow opening-day success over North Ribblesdale, the Blues romped to a 39-14 triumph away from home.

But, they did not make the best of starts to Saturday’s game and found themselves seven points behind with just four minutes on the clock following an early try by Northallerton’s scrum-half.

A response arrived just a few minutes later. The ball was safely shipped from Marston to Thompson following a scrum and Powell then jinked his way through three defenders to touch down.

On 15 minutes, the home full-back made a mess of dealing with an attempted long-range touch-finder from Thompson, the bouncing ball in the in-goal area a gift for Pearce to pounce on and move Ripon’s into the lead at 10-7.

With half-time approaching, a clearance kick from Northallerton was expertly fielded by Hanson, who set up a counter-attack involving Graham and Powell.

Slick handling after some uncompromising carrying by Graham, saw Robinson evade the opposition and go over for a 15-7 advantage at the break.

Just three minutes after the resumption, the Blues moved further ahead as Eleftheriou crossed the whitewash following a quick-tap from a penalty, with Mack and Powell both heavily involved in the build-up.

On 52 minutes, an overthrown line-out saw Mack on the charge again, and after breaking several tackles, he fed Thompson. The ball was then shipped to Powell and then Robinson, who scored his second try of the game, making it 25-7 in the process.

With Northallerton enjoying a spell of pressure, a handling error allowed Ripon scrum-half Pilkington to pick the loose ball and jinking his way out of immediate danger before feeding Powell. He then powered his way out of the Ripon 22 before handing over a perfectly-timed pass to Robinson, who sprinted the remaining 50 metres to complete his hat-trick. Pilkington kicked the conversion for 32-7.

A penalty try awarded to the hosts reduced the deficit to 32-14, though the Blues had the final say when Powell set off again and released Eleftheriou. Pilkington added the extras once more to round things off.