Underdogs Yarnbury in Yorkshire Shield victory following surprising scoreline
AFTER a stellar couple of seasons in which they have gained successive promotions, North Ribblesdale surprisingly fell short in the Yorkshire Shield final at the John Charles Stadium in South Leeds on Saturday.
Champions of Counties Two Yorkshire and Counties One Yorkshire in 2023-24 and 2024-25 respectively, winning 41 of their 44 matches overall and going unbeaten in the league in the campaign just ended, Ribb were defeated 44-21 by Yarnbury, who have just been promoted into Counties One Yorkshire.
Anyone who rocked up for this final would have thought that the teams were wearing each other's kit as Yarnbury stormed into a 20-0 lead in 23 minutes.
By half-time, Ribb, who were missing player-coach Tom Davidson (at a wedding), had bagged tries by scrum half Hennie Jansen Van Rensburg and centre Alex Dew, Freddie Spensley converting both, but they were trailing 25-14 by then.
By the time full back Ben Coultherd scored a second-half try, Spensley converting again, the contest was lost.
Ribblesdale's Adam Stubbs said: 'We just didn't get off the bus really.
'Yarnbury started well and got two scores up and we were sloppy in our attack and defence, our line-out - nothing went right in the first half!
'We got a little bit of dominance. We thought that two or three phases would do them, but they kept coming and we kept stepping off.
'We just left ourselves too much to do and they kept playing and there is not much else to say as we didn't perform on the day.'
Stubbs added: 'The lads are obviously disappointed because you want to win a cup final, but we have had two tremendous seasons and we are looking forward to North West Two next season, although there is still a long way to go and these lads still have plenty to give.
'The lads have bought into what our new coach Tom wants to do, we have changed a lot of processes behind the scenes and the lads are enjoying it and playing for each other.
'And once you get winning you know how to win, but we undoubtedly missed Tom as he gives us that edge and orchestrates the whole team.
'We have some young lads and they will develop with more time on the field and more coaching and they will come back stronger and improve.
'We want to start well in North West Two and a couple of recruits would bolster our squad but we know that it is going to be a tough ask to go again.
'Initially we were told we would be in the North section, then we were told we would be in the North East section and now we are in the North West, but we will go with it and there will be some nice trips.'
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