THERE were tears and dejection and frustration and misery and anger for North Ribblesdale last Saturday.

But way above all those emotions, there was dignity and grace after the Powergen Vase was handed to Leodiensians on the basis of their scoring two tries to one in a 13-13 final at Twickenham.

Despite the transformation of a dream into a trauma, officials, players and supporters alike were able to contain their emotions and ensure that the occasion was not sullied by recrimination and rancour. It was to the great credit of everyone at Grove Park - and it was much more than the organisers of the showpiece deserved.

It would have been easy for all concerned to start lashing out in every direction about the way in which the biggest day in the history of two junior clubs was ruined by insensitive decision making by RFU officials.

It would have been easy to criticise the over-the-top reaction to a burger van fire, which still caused supporters to be outside the ground fully 400 yards from the blaze over 90 minutes after it had started. It would have been easy to condemn the apportionment of time still available when the scheduled start time of the opening game was delayed for an hour.

But the only slip in the mask of dignity and magnanimity afterwards was the suggestion from both captains that the man in charge of the offending van deserved to suffer some retribution - a good kicking in modern parlance. Everyone involved in the North Ribb camp must have felt that the same punishment would not have been out of place elsewhere.

That was certainly true so far as the supporters who were savagely short-changed by the circumstances, some getting less than half the normal time scale for their £32 and lengthy trip from the North.

But even in the immediate aftermath of the game, when abject disappointment was just setting in, the Settle contingent preserved their dignity. It cannot have been easy.