York RI Women v Ripon Women friendly: Match report

As we rapidly head to the 23/24 season, York RI Women’s Rugby recap our first, rather warm preseason friendly against the lovely Ripon.

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It was a blistering hot Sunday that York RI Women began their 2023/24 season with a friendly fixture away to Ripon. The team pulled together with fairly low notice, grateful that Ripon thought of us when their original opposition pulled out. The team turned up (on time) and raring to go.

York RI have seen a number of new players this preseason and a few have returned from injury so it was a pleasure to have Manon Aubry and Elena Tipton join us for their RI debut and to see Jazz Harrison back on pitch after a long break. Manon is our latest addition to the French RI contingency and despite being entirely new to playing, it is clear she’s grown up around rugby as you’d never have known it was her first game.

The match kicked off with York RI receiving and immediately putting into practise the new patterns. There were some bets on the side lines as to who would score first but after multiple phases and continued pressure from big carriers it was Kat Madgwick that crossed the line to put York up 5-0. The conversion was missed but RI took confidence from a strong start with Manon close to scoring just a few minutes after.

The second try came from within our half, a gap seemingly opening out of nowhere for Co-Captain Jodie Dixon who shot down the wing with the pace of a woman no longer plagued by shin splints. She scored under the posts but missed another conversion.

Ripon seemed to up their intensity a little bit at this point with some strong phases of play and carries from their key players. It was clear that some are still quite new to the game but they listened intently to the referees explanations and improved throughout the first half. This was rewarded by a series of runs that put RI deep in their own 22 with Manon and Daisy Whitwood (other Co-Captain) finally seeing the winger out into touch right within the RI try zone.

Keen to respond, RI worked themselves back up the pitch again after an excellent turn over at the ruck from Kat Madgwick and some huge carries from Abbie Hallas (VC) and Elena Tipton.

This time it was centre Daisy’s turn to score. Using her energy, footwork and passion to step around defenders and break tackles she sped down the left wing to score under the posts, closely chased by RIpon’s own speedsters.

Immediately from the following kick off, Jazz received the ball and gave the spectators an epic sprint down the right wing - surely to score in the corner or offload to scrum half Vera Van Gool! But the pass went awry and it was knocked on.

Coming towards the end of the first half with Ripon yet to get on the score sheet they were finally rewarded when they capitalised wonderfully on a fumbled lineout throw from RI in their own half. A series of three or four great passes and offloads saw them across the try line and a conversion to top it off.

Not to be outdone, following the last kick off of the half and playing from a scrum just inside their own half the York RI backs showed real promise with their set plays, confidently bringing Jodie off the wing to first receive the ball from 10 and then looping herself back round to receive the ball again off Daisy and shooting down the pitch to score and then convert. Taking us to half time at 22-7 to RI.

The second half continued much the same. Sweaty, riddled with penalties as both teams got used to the new tackle heights and full of tries. The first of which would be Jodie’s third of the game - handed to her beautifully by fly half Charlotte Pether with an outstanding miss pass that put Jodie straight through a gap in the defense, ready to put the foot down and score. Jodie’s final attempt at kicking saw another miss before she handed over responsibility to the most unlikely individual...

Then came Jazz’s second attempt at a full pitch try and this time she did not disappoint. Applying footwork around the ruck she made her way this time down the left side of the pitch, again chased closely by the Ripon defenders. But the initial break was just enough to see her over the line and under the posts where centre Nic Hill took over kicking duties, slotting the ball over with such ease we all wondered why she hadn’t been kicking for the last two seasons?!

The last two tries of the game came from Daisy with even more epic footwork as both teams dropped a player to account for Elena’s huge egg on her shin. Nic dutifully converted. The game ended in a positive phase of play for Ripon who pushed RI back almost to their 22 with repeat penalties around the rucks but continued defensive pressure forced a knock on and the final whistle blew.

It’s worth mentioning two things here. Firstly, the Ripon players fought hard and never gave up, continuing to throw themselves into tackles, making dominant hits and great carries. The team shows great potential and we wish them the best of luck this season. Thank you Ripon!

Secondly, the win for RI came as a result of the work done at training practising patterns and building confidence moving the ball about. But it was also down to the work put in during the off season by individual players whose fitness paid dividends in the heat.

Perhaps this is the beginning of a promising season for the team!

Forward of the match: Jazz Harrison

Back of the match: Daisy Whitwood

Opposition player of the match: Jodie Dixon