RIBB faced a stiff task against high flying Wetherby at the weekend.

Normally on a wet pitch at home, Ribb would be confident , but while the pack came into the game in the second half it was Wetherby who initially dominated up front with their big pack. Ribb lost the toss and Wetherby chose to play into the wind away from the clubhouse.

They soon capitalised on their scrum which drove Ribb back into their own half , taking the ball on in the forward they put their right winger into the corner for an unconverted try .

Ribb were under the cosh from the kick off and were again defending in their twenty two , they weathered this but could only scramble the ball away to the halfway line, Wetherby ran it back and made space for a converted try on the right .

Ribb won the restart and battled their way into the Wetherby twenty two , they forced a penalty which Micky Thwaite kicked. Wetherby kicked off and Ribb put the ball deep again.

Wetherby changed their tactics using their big pack to maul their way into the wind and scored another unconverted try wide out on the left for a 17 - 3 lead .

Elliot Firth took a booming penalty to put the ball in the Wetherby corner , Ribb won the line out and made ground , Wetherby conceded another penalty for offside and Mick Thwaite converted.

Wetherby responded immediately scoring a converted try under the posts to take their lead to 24 -6. Ribb received the kick off and kicked deep , the Wetherby fullback made a good break , from the ruck they scored wide out but missed the conversion.

At half time, Wetherby were in a strong position with a healthy lead and playing with the wind, it did not work out that way , Ribb's pack roused themselves and denied Wetherby the ball for long periods, Combining well between scrum half and back row. This allowed them to deny Wetherby possession.

When Wetherby did have possession, they were tackled to a standstill with Fibbs backrow winning valuable loose ball .

Ribbs' tactics were ideal in the second half they won the ball and kept it. The pack after an indifferent first half took control , they could not overhaul Wetherby's lead but they kicked a further penalty and Frankie Brown scored a good try after a powerful driving maul to finish the game at 14 -29 .      REPORT BY: Andrew Mills