THIRSK put up a good fight in last Saturday's local derby at Ripon after once again travelling with a bare 15 players.
The visitors began well, pushing Ripon into their own 22 within the first five minutes. The forwards then showed good recycling from the ruck and eventually the gap appeared for No 8 and coach John Barr to score his second try in two games.
Barr, again coming out of retirement to make up the shortfall of players, just failed to convert his own try as the ball struck the crossbar and fell short.
Thirsk continued to keep Ripon at bay and created good chances for themselves at times, with full back Chris Jameson running any ball kicked to him straight back with interest.
Thirsk looked dangerous out wide and were more comfortable with the ball in hand, but Ripon were getting clean ball from a dominant scrum, allowing their scrum half and stand off time and space to run.
The home side eventually broke Thirsk's resolve and pulled the score level with a try in the corner.
Ripon used good ball from a scrum to score their second try, shipping the ball out wide for their winger to score in the corner. A penalty was kicked on half-time to put them 13-5 up.
Thirsk again started well in the second half, using line-outs to secure possession and continuing to batter Ripon's defence with strong running from the back row and centres alike.
But with ten minutes gone Thirsk lost hooker John Cartwright with a rib injury and, with no replacement, played the rest of the game one man short.
As legs got tired the gaps started to appear and Ripon began to dominate the flow of the game.
They continued to create chances and the score would have been higher but for good tackling in the back line by centres Will Ashby and Billy Russell.
The home side scored 15 minutes in when their scrum half kicked over the Thirsk defence. The bounce was kind as he collected his own kick to evade two tackles and put his centre into space in front of the posts for an unopposed run in.
Thirsk's defence was breached again in the last five minutes as Ripon again got over for an unconverted try, making the final score 23-5.
Tomorrow's game is a league fixture away to Wibsey, with Thirsk hoping that a league game will encourage a few more players to make themselves available. Meet time to be confirmed
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