
York welcomed North Ribblesdale to Clifton Park for the final game of 2017. York made several changes with Eddie Westaby making his debut, James Hartley returning after injury and a debut start at hooker for 23 year old Kyle Consterdine.
Ribb kicked off and after a scrappy start, Ribb were awarded a scrum 10m out. Clean ball allowed Ryan Sumner to walk in virtually unopposed, 0-7. Almost straight from the kick off, York were awarded a penalty which they kicked to the corner. A straightforward catch and drive resulted in a try for Lewis Hannibal, conversion missed, 5-7.Ribb went straight back into the York half and again from a scrum, walked straight through the York defence, score and secure the conversion, 5-14. Play again reverted to the Ribb half and York finally starting to put some good phases together. After good passing from the backs, Gareth Singleton scored and Jon Dawes added the conversion, 12-14 after 15 minutes.York now started to dominate possession and after great work by Daz Rutherford, Chris Fox scored - Jon Dawes making the conversion, 19-14.Play was now confined to the Ribb half and just before half time, a line out allowed Toby Atkin to score the bonus point try - Dawes missing a difficult conversion, 24-14 HT.
The second half started with York back in the Ribb half. The forwards were dominating possession but not converting it into points. Finally, after 50 minutes the ball reached Jon Dawes who powered through from 30m to score, conversion missed, 31-14.Ribb were now kicking to relieve pressure and following an excellent kick return from George Davies, the ball was passed through the backs for Gareth Singleton to score in the corner. Conversion missed, 36-14.York were pressing their advantage home and on 58 mins Chris Fox went in on the wing following a good passing move. Conversion missed, 41-14. Fox was not finished; after 65 minutes Liam Hessay found Fox running a great line at pace to secure his hat trick. Conversion missed, 46-14.To their credit, Ribb were not finished and came back at York with some strong running. Following a penalty kick to the corner, they crashed over from the line out and secured the conversion, 46-21. Play again reverted to the Ribb half and after a dazzling run from Daz Rutherford, which included a show and go, he released Toby Atkin to score but again, the conversion was missed, 56-21.There was time for Muller to score an interception try for Ribb with Michael Thwaite kicking a difficult touch line conversion giving him a 100% record on the day.
Not York’s best performance but a bonus point win leaving them 13 points clear at the top. North Ribblesdale also secured a deserved bonus point - the first team to score 4 tries at Clifton Park for some time.