Three-try burst is decisive

The Copley men managed to do enough in a sparkling three-try spell in the first quarter to win the game and then finished well with fourth near the end.

In between it was all North Ribb who pinned the home side in their own half for long periods, although they only managed one try and a penalty.

Rishworthians fielded four under 18 players, who all performed well, but with substitutions and players playing out of position, it meant cohesion suffered and allowed the visitors to dominate.

The first quarter saw some excellent play from Rishworthians, who looked like they would run away with the game.

There was good movement among the forwards with prop Harry Whitfield, hooker Greg Day and lock Callum Heseltine prominent.

Eventually teenage winger Kian Stewart took a pass from prop Phil Kershaw and opened the scoring to make his try tally eight in seven games.

Right wing Olly Scrimshaw and scrum half Ed Cockroft combined well before Heseltine crossed the line but was judged held up.

From the scrum the ball went wide for Scrimshaw to score in the corner. Josh Kelly added a fine conversion.

Stewart was almost in again, but from the breakdown Cockroft spotted a gap and glided over. Kelly converted to make it 19-0.

From then Rishworthians virtually stopped playing and handed the momentum to the visitors.

Ribb put the home side under constant pressure, which paid off just before the break with an unconverted try from a lineout catch and drive.

The second half opened in the same way and good tackling was needed throughout with teenagers Sam Bake and Thomas Cockroft showing the way and restricting the visitors to a single penalty.

Rishworthians finally got their game together and finished the last quarter strongly. Stewart was almost in again before the ball was recycled and the hard working Callum Heseltine burst through to touch down to crown an outstanding performance.

Kelly added the conversion and with the last kick of the game drop kicked a penalty in front of the posts to earn Rishworthians a home tie with Hullensians.

A DEPLETED Rishworthians development side went down 59-15 at Ripon. Tries were scored by Wes Aldridge, Ben Copley and Oliver Marshall.

The Academy side beat Huddersfield YMCA thirds 24-10 at Copley with tries from Liam Normanton, Kevin Mitchell and Johnny Whiteoak. Lee Atkinson kicked two conversions and Thomas Higginbottom kicked one plus a penalty.