Pocklington 13 - 7 North Ribblesdale
Pocklington duly recorded another Yorkshire Two success with a 13-7 win over North Ribblesdale at Percy Road, but, boy, did they make hard work of it.
Pocklington looked the better side from the start. They were solid in the scrums, lock Mark Biggin did well in the middle of the lineout, and Phil Priestley got his line moving well on his debut at scrum half. But four times Pocklington carved through the first line of defence only to drop the ball after the opening had been created, and it was left to two Henry Mitchell penalties to give them a six point interval lead that should have been significantly more comfortable.
Ribblesdale brought on some experienced replacements in the second half that gave them more go forward in broken play and a distinct advantage in the set scrums. But Pocklington still looked the more incisive outfit and after two excellent attacks had ended with them throwing out an optimistic pass that landed in opposition hands, Pocklington finally got it right when they retained the phases and Mitchell's angled run took him over for the try. He also sent the conversion sailing over from wide out to give him all Pocklington's 13 points on his first appearance of the season.
Pocklington
missed further opportunities to put themselves out of sight, but a missed touchfinder
gave Ribblesdale the chance to run the ball back and score a converted 80 yard
try that sent the game back into the melting pot. And Pocklington's had a a couple
of heart-stopping moments late on as Ribblesdale created scoring positions, but
the home side hung on and responded with some resolute defence to take a relieved
two points.