West Park Leeds 15 - 0 Pocklington
Pocklington
gave a disjointed performance as they went down at West Park Leeds in a game of
contrasting halves.
West Park have been the early Yorkshire Two pace setters,
but they looked nothing special as Pocklington took the game to them up the hill
in the first half. However, Pocklington failed to turn pressure into points, and
West Park turned the tables to take control in the second period.
Phosyn Yara
sponsored Pocklington again fielded a much changed lineup - they welcomed back
some key backs who had been missing the previous Saturday, but this week it was
the pack that was heavily depleted. Pocklington struggled to get going in the
set pieces early on, nevertheless, they put in plenty of honest endeavour, typified
by the hard working debut of flanker Andy Hollway, which saw them spend 35 of
the first 40 minutes in home territory.
Wing Tim Nixon made two early charges
infield, but too often Pocklington won the ball going forward, only for a loose
pass to waste the opportunity. However, aided by a string of penalty awards in
their favour, they continued to pin the home side back until the 22nd minute.
West Park then took a quick tap on their own 22 and hoofed the ball 50 yards downfield,
then held the position and made their only real visit of the half to Pocklington's
22 pay as they put together a rolling maul that resulted in a close range try
to take the lead.
Pocklington were wide with a penalty when West Park had a
man yellow carded, and they again remained on the offensive without really threatening
the home line.
The roles were reversed in the second period as West Park went
straight onto the attack and stayed there. Pocklington defended resolutely, repelling
three successive home attempts to drive over from close range lineouts, with Henry
Mitchell, who made a notable success of his switch to the unaccustomed position
of scrum half, managing to get underneath the West Park pack phalanx on one occasion
when they drove over the line.
West Park were restricted to a single penalty
to extend their lead to eight points, kicked when Pocklington had a man sin-binned
on the retreat, though it was still anybody's game. But Pocklington were unable
to find an extra gear and, when they did create an occasional opening, their handling
again let them down.
Into the last quarter, West Park looked the side that
wanted it the most, and the home side sealed victory with three off-loads out
of the tackle that turned messy ball on the right into a converted try under the
posts.
Pocklington made a last ditch effort, with evergreen No 8 Paul Rhodes
making a couple of bursts from the base of the scrum to take them back onto the
attack. But West Park absorbed the late pressure and took play back to the other
end to ensure a victory that took them back into second place in the table, while
Pocklington slip back to eighth.