Ripon narrowly defeated Huddersfield Laund Hill 20-15 in a tense encounter at Mallorie Park.
The match, part of the Counties 2 Yorkshire league, was far closer than expected, with Ripon scraping an untidy home win.
Despite a promising half-time lead of 12-5, Ripon struggled to widen the gap on the scoreboard as Huddersfield mounted a strong second-half fightback.
The visitors caused Ripon all sorts of problems, particularly in the scrums and lineouts, with their well-rehearsed set pieces yielding two tries.
Ripon's captain, James Pearce, managed to score from a first-half penalty lineout drive.
However, the Blues lacked their usual consistency and slickness in this area of the game.
The team was further hampered by numerous changes to the already challenged playing membership, resulting in twelve positional changes or recalls.
This made it difficult for the squad to gel quickly from the outset.
Despite this, there were some standout performances, with Zak Kirby scoring his second 1st XV try and Henry Hanson showcasing his strength and pace.
Adam Newcombe, making his first start for a while, made significant yards carrying, enabling captain James Pearce to play fast and loose at blind-side flanker.
The first half saw Ripon kicking with the slope and elements for a change and an opening ten minutes that almost blew the opposition away.
Unforced errors unfortunately stifled the best intentions and it wasn’t until just into the second quarter when Tom Roebuck, guesting and looking a natural at outside centre, opened the scoring for the Blues.
Harry Drane's conversion and another try from Pearce gave the Blues a 12-0 lead.
Huddersfield, undeterred, exploited a penalty opportunity in injury time to reduce the gap to 12-5 at half-time.
The second half saw Huddersfield's determination rewarded as they reduced the deficit with a penalty goal for 12-8.
Drane shifted the Blues further in front with a penalty goal after 18 minutes for 15-8.
Zak Kirby's try extended Ripon's lead to 20-8.
However, Huddersfield threw everything into the last few minutes and a penalty gave them a chance to increase their score.
A textbook lineout drive took them over the home line within kicking range and the converted try reduced the gap further to 20-15.
Ripon pressed again from the restart and got to within a sniff of the Huddersfield line.
The final whistle blew to the host's disappointment.
The final score of 20-15 was fair justice for Ripon’s unfortunate inability to close the game down.
