York RI 6 - 30 Pocklington
Pocklington recorded a comfortable victory over bottom club, York RI, though they were dragged into a dog-fight for the first hour before finally making their superiority tell in the final quarter.
Phosyn Yara sponsored Pocklington looked to stamp their authority from the outset, and a weaving run down the right wing in the second minute by fullback Nick Bennett looked to have opened up their lowly opponents. But York RI made up for their technical deficiencies with bags of grit, and their determined defence and spoiling tactics disrupted Pocklington's flow until Bennett put them ahead with a ninth minute penalty.
RI quickly equalised when they kicked a penalty on their first visit to Pocklington territory, but Pocklington made another strong attack up the middle and when RI killed the ball in front of the posts Bennett was again on target.
But though all the play was in the RI half, the home side continued to spoil and stick to their task, and a rare foray upfield saw them kick another penalty to again level the scores. Pocklington were spurred into action and a move started on the right halfway by powerful wing Tim Nixon saw left winger Harry Allen stopped just short on the opposite flank. Pocklington held the position and from a lineout they drove strongly over the line and flanker Scott Littlefair muscled over for the try.
Debutant scrum half Chris Pottage and returning back row Dan Wilson tried hard to get Pocklington going from the base of the scrum, but RI's defence continued to somehow hold out with a series of escapes at the end of the first half. After some good back play the Pocklington forwards took over and big prop John-Paul Kelly surged onto the ball and carried three players over the line. He clearly got the touchdown, but the referee was on the wrong side and unsighted. Pocklington were then twice stopped a foot short as they continued to attempt to batter a way through, before lock Matt Atkinson cleverly positioned himself in the clear to receive a cross-kick to the left but he was unable to gather with the line begging.
Pocklington finally made their pressure pay early in the second half. They won back the restart to push down the right, then man-of-the match Nixon once again popped up in midfield to carve through the heart of the home defence before offloading to centre Tom Stokes who plunged beneath the posts, Bennett converting.
To their credit, RI made a spirited reply with a couple of dangerous raids. But Pocklington made some big tackles to keep their line intact and take the sting out of the RI effort. And as play entered the last quarter Pocklington again took control and finished RI off with another lineout catch and drive try in each corner.
The Pock
pack was unstoppable as they drove from 20 yards on the left, then 15 down the
right, and both times Littlefair burrowed in for the score to record his hattrick,
with Bennett adding one conversion to complete the scoring.