Pocklington 28 - 15 Knottingley
Pocklington had to work hard to get
their Yorkshire Division Two
campaign underway with a win, but three quality
tries eventually saw
them to a 28-15 home success over Knottingley.
Pocklington
camped in Knottingley territory throughout the first
quarter, but they had
to settle for a 24th minute Nick Bennett penalty
to open the scoring. And
when Knottingley took advantage of a missed
tackle to break out of defence
on the half hour they took play to the
other end and rumbled over for a close
range try. Bennett's second
penalty regained the lead, Knottingley snatched
it back with a long
range kick, then the last play of the first half saw Pocklington
pull
off a slick midfield move that saw centre Tim Bolton slice through
under
the posts, Bennett converting for 13-11.
Knottingley continued to score
every time they visited Pocklington's
half, and a converted pushover try at
the start of the second period
put them back in the driving seat. But Pocklington
continued to do the
bulk of the attacking, and after Bennett had knocked over
a third
penalty the home side went ahead again when scrum half Graham Pickering
slid through a blind side grubber kick for wing Tim Nixon to touchdown
in
the corner.
Pocklington finished the stronger, though they continued to
struggle to
turn some promising attacks into points. However, it all came
right in
the closing stages when skipper Sandy Mitchell put debutant
threequarter
Tom Stokes into a midfield hole and he off-loaded in the
tackle to send his
centre partner Bolton under the posts for his second
score, Bennett sealing
victory with the conversion.