Ripon RUFC withstand spirited Wheatley Hills RUFC fightback to record narrow victory

Ripon RUFC held on for a narrow Yorkshire Two success away at Wheatley Hills. Picture: Mandy Errington Photography

The Blues looked to be on course for a comfortable victory having cruised into a 22-point lead, but in the end had to settle for a 27-24 success which lifts them up to fifth place in the table.

The Men from Mallorie Park got off to a flying start and got their noses in front with less than three minutes on the clock.

A handling infringement at the breakdown presented Ripon with their first scrum put-in, and quick hands enabled Thompson to dance through to open the scoring. Bray added the conversion to take the lead to 7-0.

From the restart, the Blues pressed again and forced another handling error to earn themselves a second scrum. Buckling under the pressure, Hills conceded a penalty, which saw Bray hoof the ball back into the red-zone for a line-out.

High-flying Wharton secured the throw and, with Marston on the dummy run, hooker Pearce retrieved his own throw-in to ghost his way through the defence and touch down.

Bray knocked over a difficult, long-range conversion from the touchline and everything was looking rosy, with a blue tinge at 14-0.

A Bray penalty then stretched the visitors’ advantage before the same player intercepted an attempted pass and sprinted 30 metres up the touchline.

Seeing options running out and a 60-metre sprint lying ahead, he then chipped forward and stooped to collect the ball and applied the finishing touch for a 22-0 lead.

Ripon then took their foot of the gas and the home side were able to register a couple of tries before the interval to get themselves back into the contest.

A third Hills touchdown arrived shortly after the resumption, though the Blues responded in the 50th minute when Leeming launched himself from the base of a five-metre scrum to bounce off two tackles and register his team’s fourth and bonus-point winning-try.

The hosts would then go on to finish the match the stronger of the sides, scoring again to narrow the gap to 27-24, but despite a spell of late pressure, Ripon managed to hold out.

This Saturday, the Blues entertain Baildon, 3pm kick-off.