HUDDERSFIELD Under 17s went down 34-10 at Ripon in a Yorkshire League Division II game after being forced to travel with just 15 players.
And that proved to be a telling factor in the end as Ripon took advantage when the visitors began to tire.
In fact, the first score of the match didn’t come until 10 minutes into the second half, but from that point the floodgates opened with 44 points being scored in the next 25 minutes.
Ripon took the lead with an individual try from their Scottish Under 18 scrum half, and added a second when the forwards drove over Huddersfield’s line.
The visitors raised their game, however, and Chris Brook got their score moving with a drop goal, before centre Billy Dempsey intercepted and raced away to score a converted try.
That was the prelude to a spell of end-to-end rugby, but as tiredness crept into Huddersfield’s ranks, Ripon brought on fresh legs and scored three more tries and a penalty to run away with it.
There were still some good displays from Josh Crosby, Jack Brannan, James Schofield and Billy Dempsey, who were all playing out of their regular positions, while the man-of-the-match awards went to Josh Morris (forwards) and Chris Brook (backs).
