North Ribblesdale 18 Wath 18

Wath players and spectators made an early start for their bus trip to Settle in the Yorkshire Dales.
They received a warm welcome from their hosts, North Ribblesdale, but the weather was not equally agreeable as a raw wind numbed the hands and faces.
N. Ribb. started the brightest and, despite a missed penalty, they were 7 points up for a converted try after 5 minutes and Wath hadn’t touched the ball. The away side did respond well and quickly gained a penalty. Jack Whitlam took the three points on offer and Wath closed the gap to 7-3.
The game went into a period of patchy play with both sides making handling errors. N.Ribb. did come out of this period with an increased lead: 13-3, as they kicked two soft penalties conceded by Wath.
On 30 minutes the game appeared to be slipping away from Wath but they managed to build pressure on the Dalesmen and a Joe Earp try, following a clean break by Jack Jewell and support by the forwards, brought the score much closer at 13-10, with Whitlam’s accurate conversion.
The half time score remained the same but Wath levelled the scores to 13-13 after 5 minutes of the second half with another penalty by Whitlam. Some poor tactical kicking by both teams exasperated their fans, but a return by the Ribblesdale winger from his own 22 was the highlight of the game as he enjoyed the luck of the bounce and showed great pace to evade Wath defenders and score a spectacular try. The home team’s lead remained at 18-13 as the conversion went wide.
From this point, at 60 minutes Wath increasingly looked the team to score next. However, for a combination of reasons, the hosts were able to hold out until the 75th minute. The decision by the Wath coach, Alan Yuill, to bring Joe Bartlett back off the bench for a 5 metre scrum proved to be inspired, as the scrum half burrowed his way over to score. Jack Whitlam’s conversion was uncharacteristically rushed and went wide. With five minutes to go the scores stood level at 18 all.
N.Ribb. were given the opportunity to sneak a win but a penalty in the last minute went to the right of the posts and Wath cleared to touch. Most people agreed it would have been an injustice and that a draw was a fair result.

Steve Corns

Andy Hopkins. Missing Person
Andy was due to travel with the 1st’s to play at North Ribblesdale but has not been seen since last Saturday. A description has been issued and the public are asked to keep an eye out for a man with a “”massive heed .” Will possibly reappear for next home game.