Old Rishworthians moved towards Yorkshire II safety with a 20-14 success at fellow strugglers Ripon.
It was a performance of grit and determination by Rishworthians in a game that had ‘cup final’ significance in the basement battle in Yorkshire II.
Ripon controlled the opening 15 minutes pushing the visitors back into their own half.
The home team took the lead with a penalty, before they then took play through a number of phases and scored an unconverted try in the corner.
Rishworthians’ stand-off Damian Ball, started to use possession to kick into attacking positions and provide good ball to the backs.
He made a break on the halfway and passed to wing forward Chris Dyson who ran through to score, and full-back Joe Billing converted.
The visitors’ nervousness evaporated and both forwards and backs worked well to build pressure on the home team and Billing kicked them into a 10–8 interval lead.
In the second half Rishworthians allowed Ripon few visits to into their half, but the home side still went ahead with two successful penalties.
With time running out Rishworthians prop Reuben Pollard charged down a kick on the halfway line and the loose ball was picked up by winger Anthony Shoesmith who outpaced the defence to score in the corner.
Billing kicked the goal to finish with a creditable four from five kicks.
From the restart Ripon attacked and camped in the visitors’ 22 but the defence held on for a win which should almost certainly secure Rishworthians Yorkshire II status.
Old Crossleyans suffered defeat in North I East as they went down 34-14 at Wheatley Hills, but in Yorkshire I Old Brodleians hit impressive form winning 77-13 at bottom of the table Acklam.
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