Pocklington 19 - 24 Wheatley Hills
Pocklington
gave an improved performance at home to Wheatley Hills, but still lost out to
the bigger visiting side.
It was an entertaining game with plenty of moments
of good rugby, but Pocklington shot themselves in the foot with defensive lapses
that let Wheatley Hills in for scores at crucial moments. Pocklington also failed
to turn some long periods of pressure into points, and their fate was summed up
in the first quarter.
Yara Phosyn sponsored Pocklington did all the early
attacking with some strong running and good offloads. And they were only the right
pass away from scoring on three or four occasions, with forwards Scott Littlefair
and Stewart Rowley prominent with their charges into space. But all Pocklington's
efforts and approach play brought no reward, and a couple of missed tackles let
Wheatley Hills in for a try with their first real visit to home territory after
20 minutes.
Pocklington hit back with some elusive running by fullback Steve
Shephard that brought a penalty from fly half Nick Bennett, but straightaway more
slack defence saw Wheatley Hills set off on a run on halfway and somehow weave
through half a dozen tackles to go over for a try under the posts.
Pockllington
resumed the offensive, and forwards and backs combined in an enterprising attack.
Flanker John Aikman was twice involved in the build up, then threequarters Bennett
and Joe Holbrough ran well and passed out of the tackle for powerful flanker Littlefair
to juggle the ball, cling on and touchdown in the corner. Bennett converted from
the touchline to make it 10-12 at the interval.
Pocklington started the second
half well as No 8 John Tilley galavanized the pack and Bennett sent a long touchfinder
downfield. And scrum half Ben Rees sparked another dangerous raid that ended in
Bennett kicking his second penalty to give Pocklington the lead for the first
time.
Wheatley Hills came back strongly through their heavyweight back row,
and when Pocklington then had a player harshly sin-binned at the breakdown, Wheatley
Hills took advantage of their extra man to run in an overlap try on the right
and go back in front.
Pocklington had another spell of sustained pressure,
but they lost two lineouts on the visitors' line, and had to settle for another
penalty to put them back within a point when Bennett was high tackled and got
up to kick the goal.
Wheatley Hills then exerted strong pressure that saw
Pocklington respond with resolute tackling. But having held out half a dozen times
the home side ran out of defenders and Hills strolled under the posts for a converted
try to pull clear with five minutes to go.
Pocklington had to score twice,
and though home centre Guy Wilson somehow dropped a goal out of the middle of
a ruck it was followed straightaway by the final whistle with Pocklington still
five points adrift.