A mixed bag for North

With the first XV travelling away to Halifax Vandals it was second XV who held the fort at Brompton Lodge on Saturday, entertaining local rivals Ripon RUFC second XV. The Ladies were also at home on the Sunday playing Wensleydale Heifers in the first round of the Papa John’s Cup competition.
It’s fair to say that the second XV game saw a clash of two opposing styles. North favoured the power and size of their forward pack to get gain momentum, the visitors utilised their home-grown talent in the back line, many of their colts coming through to senior rugby and showing that they’ve played together for some time. It was Ripon who opened the scoring in the game with a try out wide in the corner. A flurry of tries followed in the next few minutes as the host’s couldn’t find an answer to the speed and agility of the Ripon backs and despite a knock on over the try line they still pulled away to a four try lead before North were able to mount any response. It was the strength of Ollie Watts who managed to force his way over the try line and get the score board moving for North. Ripon restored their lead at the end of the half with another try out wide from their backs on the stroke of half time.
Bringing on some more experienced heads at the break, North started to move with more cohesion in attack and defence. The wet weather dampened the passing ambitions of the young visiting backs and brought the game more into the realms of the Northallerton forward pack who used their significant size advantage to get over the gain line and put pressure on the away side’s try line.
Pulling a dummy out of his deep bag of tricks, scrum half Doug Mulholland found a narrow gap in the Ripon defence and squeezed his way over the line to bring North back into the game. From the resulting kick off the home side pressurised the visitors, carries from David Baker, Connah Richmond and Jimmy Fothergill drew in defenders to put winger Ben Robinson into a space where he beat his opposite man and went over for a try. Ripon were quick to reply with another try out wide that was then followed by a prolonged spell of rugby played in the middle of the pitch yielding little in the way of scoring. The increasing inclement weather limited the ability of either side to shift the ball until, with the last ten minutes of the game, North’s defenders started to tire and left spaces for the quick footwork to run in several tries in rapid succession to pad out the score line of what had been at times a very closely contested game.
The final score was Northallerton 15 – Ripon 54. A big thank you to the referee for officiating, the supporters of both sides for braving the weather and the volunteers at the club for helping the day happen.

The first XV made the long journey to Halifax Vandals for the first time in a number of years eager to maintain their winning start to the season. In what turned out to be a very closely fought game there were few moments of magic to savour. Winger Ben Pilling showed his electric speed to race past several defenders and score a long range try to start the job for North. The visitors’ second try went to crowd favourite Alex Hugill who scored his first try for Northallerton after an assist from captain Ed Meek who found a gap down the blind side of a ruck and executed a perfect two-on-one to give Hugill the chance to race in. Vandals were able to respond quickly to peg North back by scoring a well worked try out wide from a set play move. Out wide was where Vandals proved most threatening in the game, unfortunately for them the wet weather limited their opportunities to exploit this.
In the second half, a strong defensive effort from North made it difficult for the home team to get any momentum in the game. Pin-point goal kicking from Jedd Bainbridge made the most of the limited penalty opportunities and kept the scoreboard ticking over. After a more conservative performance in the second half North were able to close out the game with the final score Halifax Vandals 15 – Northallerton 22. Many thanks to Vandals for their hospitality and to the referee for officiating the game.

In the previous week, Northallerton’s junior section hosted a festival of rugby involving 218 children from five different clubs across all age groups. The grand finale of the day was a match between Northallerton and Wharfdale under 15s where after some end-to-end rugby, Wharfdale came out victorious. Many thanks to all the volunteers at the club who coach, organise, referee and help to
make the day happen.

The Ladies’ match started and was instantly up to speed, both teams carrying hard and tackling harder, neither team showing weakness, making it clear this was going to be a tough game. North’s forwards played the phases and earned the right to send the ball out wide several times however good positioning from the Dale back three spoiled the party for North. Determined to match the visitors for physicality, North foiled several breaks, forwards stopping the hard carries and North’s wingers shutting down the space out wide. After a relentless twenty minutes Dale found a way through to open the scoring by running in a try under the posts that was converted. Play got back underway in much the same manner. North’s players were settled in now, defending harder and determined to keep the score low. Great game management from scrum half Emily Richardson and fly half Ali O’Brien saw North have a good spell of attacking pressure, Richardson shipping the ball to the right players at the right time. O’Brien spotted a gap in the defence and showed her pace by running in a try from her own half. Despite some terrific tackling from North’s players, Wensleydale were able to put some good phases together an score another converted try to extend their lead. The second half was very similar to the first, both teams showing great work defensively to keep the game tight. The set pieces were massively improved for North, especially the lineout. This gave the home side a great platform for Richardson to dart off up field or distribute to the backs earning her player of the match award throughout. Wensleydale managed to break the defensive wall only twice
more in the game, converting one to finish the game with a final score Northallerton 5 – Wensleydale 26. The two teams meet again in the league next week in another great fixture.
Forward of the match was given to Steph Welford, back of the match was given to Sarah Rowe. Many thanks to the referee for officiating the game and to all the volunteers at the club who helped make everything happen.

For anyone wanting to play rugby, the men train on Tuesday and Thursday 7pm, the ladies train Wednesday 7pm and the juniors on Sundays 10am. All ages and abilities welcome.