YMCA 40

North Ribblesdale 22

(Yorkshire I)

YMCA skipper Mark Whitehead finally got his side’s season off the ground when he led from the front by scoring a hat trick of tries against North Ribblesdale to land their first victory since being promoted to Yorkshire I.

It was virtually a must-win game for the YM, who prior to kick-off were at the foot of the table, and they responded positively on a day made for running rugby.

Whitehead gave YM the perfect start, when in the opening minute, scrum half Simon Wilson chipped the ball over the ruck into space, and the skipper was onto it like a shot, as he collected and sprinted to the line for the opening try, to which Ed Barber added the conversion.

Chris Beever went close to an interception, only for the referee to award Ribblesdale a penalty after adjudging Beever’s attempt was a deliberate knock-on, and Davidson pulled three points back for the visitors.

For the next 15 minutes, play was centred in midfield, but on 24 minutes the deadlock was broken when Whitehead was on the end of a well-structured passage of play involving all the backs to grab his second try which Barber again converted.

The visitors came back with a try of their own when fly-half Milnes put up a crossfield kick, caught by second rower Newhouse who was quickly into his stride to outpace the cover tacklers on a run to the corner.

Barber was next to cut through the Ribblesdale line, before he off-loaded to Whitehead who, once he had the ball in hand, was not going to be stopped and went over the line with would-be tacklers in attendance.

As half-time approached Alex Shaw finished off another good move in the backs when he created an overlap which he used to good effect to score out wide. Barber continued his accuracy landing both conversions for a 28-8 half-time lead.

North Ribblesdale came out in determined mood to start the second half and were soon back in the game, when Nowell broke away from the back of a maul to get a try close to the posts, and then slack tackling allowed the visitors another quick score when right winger Holmes jinked through the defence leaving him a clear run to the line.

Davidson converted both tries to cut the game to just six points and with everything still to play for.

Fortunately, YM steadied the leaking ship and got back on track putting together some excellent work in the forwards, while the backs were prepared to be adventurous.

Wilson and James Swift were noticeably linking well, and it was fly-half Swift who got the next score after barber had hacked through a loose ball, and YM’s No10 was the first man there to claim the touchdown.

For once Barber was off target, but the lead had been again stretched to 11 points, and the visitors’ challenge was over.

And when Barber popped up a neat pass towards the end of the game, it was Swift who were there in support to bag his second try which this time was converted, as YM showed some indication of what they are capable of, and which will hopefully set them up to turn their season around.

YMCA: Bahadori, Shaw, Barber, Williams, Beever; Swift, Wilson, Wrafter, Ste Dyke, Sanderson, Merrick, Housley, Hodge, Whitehead, Walker. Subs: Murphy, Hill, Marshall.