A clean sweep to end the year for North

The last weekend of fixtures for this calendar year had Northallerton’s men, ladies and juniors all in action and claiming big wins for each. The men’s first XV hosted West Park Leeds in their return fixture at the Lodge, the ladies travelled down the road to Ripon RUFC and the U15s went to local team Darlington Mowden Park for their Sunday entertainment.

The ladies’ first XV played a hastily rearranged fixture against Ripon RUFC after their original match had to be called off. North made a strong start to the game and numerous phases of carries by the forwards, number 8 Abby Robinson crashed over the line for the first try of the game. The forwards continued to do the majority of the work, Gina Fothergill and SJ Pritchard adding their firepower to the effort, punching holes in the defence and beating several defenders each time. Ripon were able to string phases together when they had the ball in attack although they made little headway against a solid North defence. A loose ball from Ripon was snaffled by SJ Pritchard and she darted over to score the visitor’s second try of the game. The third try for North came after more forwards dominance created a space for scrum half Emily Richardson to use her footwork and speed to cross the try line again and extend North’s lead. A combination of some excellent work from the whole
team and the momentum of the game swinging Northallerton’s way enabled fly half Trinity Earnshaw and Abby Robinson to cross for two more scores before half time.
The second half saw more tremendous team efforts from Northallerton with everyone working together to move the ball around the pitch and create space. Captain Natalie Gardiner was the next beneficiary of this good play, scoring from the back of a scrum. Ripon came back into the game by holding onto the ball and playing with good ambition however were unable to capitalise thanks to last ditch tackling from full back Emma Lawson. Veteran fly half Ali O’Brien came off the bench late on in the game and added two more tries to fill out the score line against a tiring Ripon side. The game finished with a score of Ripon 0 – Northallerton 40. Player of the match went to full back Emma Lawson, forward of the match was awarded to Gina Fothergill and back of the match to Emily Richardson. A big thank you to Ripon for their generous hospitality, to the referee for officiating the game and to the three players from Grimsby for joining for the day.

The men’s first XV played host to West Park Leeds knowing that after their previous encounter, the visitors would come out firing on all cylinders. In order to match the ferocity with which Park attacked at the start of the game, North had to raise their level of defence. After enduring a sustained spell of pressure, the hosts pressed into action their tried and tested set piece routine. Establishing a base from the strength of their scrum and lineout they were able to play their way into the corner of the pitch by the visitor’s try line and set up a series of phases which yielded an opening try converted by Jedd Bainbridge. It was the familiar play of kicking to the corner and mauling from the lineout that brought another score for North, creating a lead early on in the match. West Park were not to be beaten easily and attacked with ferocity and width. Tying in North’s defence to the ruck, they moved the ball wide quickly and found a space in the wide channels that allowed them to score an unconverted try against the general flow of the game.
The second half resumed with both teams throwing their all into the match. North’s defence was able to organise out wide more productively and prevented Park from exploiting any more space to score in those channels. This opened the door to allow the forwards to go to work and duly set about working through the phases, churning out another three tries in similar style to secure the match. The last word of the day though went to the visitors who, having regained some momentum through North’s ill discipline and subsequent yellow cards, scored a late consolation try from a tap penalty to leave the final score Northallerton 31 – West Park Leeds 10. A big thank you to all the volunteers at the club who made the day happen, to the referee for officiating the game and to West Park Leeds for travelling in good numbers.

The U15s played a game quickly re-arranged against Darlington Mowden Park U15s. Looking to close out what has been a very successful season so far, the team arrived full of confidence and eager to play. A combination of their speed of play, the ferocity of the defence and their clinical attacking nature saw the visitors win the game with a scoreline of Mowden Park 7 – Northallerton 34. Many thanks to Mowden Park for their hospitality, to the referee for officiating the game and to all the supporters, volunteers and parents who help to make these games happen.

Northallerton RUFC will be back in action in the new year with teams training again on the 2nd and 3rd of January. In the meantime, the club wishes all its supporters the best of Christmas cheer and a happy new year. See you all in 2024!