NORTH Ribblesdale may have welcomed a Manchester side from a ground with the same Grove Park name, but there the similarity between the two sides ended as the Settle side moved forward into Round Six of the Powergen Junior Vase with a 34-8 victory.

Simon Spensley and his men are now only three wins away from an outing in the final at Twickenham and judging by current form, it would be no surprise to see them going the distance.

Ribblesdale's win was based on another powerful showing by their pack and the forwards signalled their intent with a torrid opening in the tight exchanges.

Early penalties were converted by both teams in the opening forays, but after 10 minutes a scrum 12 metres out from the Wanderers line was driven almost to the try line.

By that stage the Manchester scrum was in the process of complete disintegration and left the referee with no option but to award a penalty try and give Ribb a 10-3 lead.

The process was repeated almost immediately, with Neil Gemmell getting the touchdown to leave the home side 17-3 up and coasting.

Manchester simply could not live with the tempo being generated by Ribblesdale and a further converted try from Gareth Evans, slicing through a fragile defence, gave Ribblesdale a comfortable 24-3 interval lead.

The second-half was less emphatic, but two tries followed from outstanding flanker Michael Carr. The first followed inter passing between Spensley and Pat Illingworth and the second came courtesy of a midfield surge from Illingworth.

With Ribblesdale seeming to relax in the final quarter, this was all they had to show for their second-half efforts as Manchester strove manfully to keep the score in check. Speedy winger Twicks got a consolation score for the visitors to leave the Settle side comfortable winners.

Now only three more wins separate them from a trip to Twickenham and with the side growing in confidence with each successive win, optimists are starting to wonder when the run will end. This victory was the tenth on the trot and if current form and morale is maintained, who would bet against another 10 to follow?