Pocklington 32 - 17 Skipton
Pocklington produced
an excellent team performance to convincingly beat second placed Skipton
at
Percy Road.
Skipton had easily won the two previous encounters between the
sides this season, and when Pocklington shipped two early tries the writing was
on the wall. But Pocklington's slack defence, which gifted Skipton the lead, then
became an impregnable barrier as the home side took control and surged to victory.
Another
pre-match worry was that Pocklington had not had a competitive game for a month
due to adverse weather and the festive period. However, it hardly showed and head
coach, Ed Townend, was delighted with the display, saying: "When you've had
such a long break you never really know how the players will react. But the response
was excellent against a good side riding high in the table. After going behind
the lads really dug in, particularly in defence, sticking to the game plan and
executing moves with power and pace. We've had a performance like this in our
locker for a while now and we look forward to another difficult fixture at Goole
on Saturday. The team now knows it has to perform consistently at this level to
achieve success."
Pocklington's rustiness did show though in the opening
exchanges. In only the second minute they were caught napping and out of position
as Skipton's kick to the corner brought them a try. Nick Bennett did pull back
a penalty from the kick off, but an interception followed by two missed tackles
let in Skipton for a second try to make it 3-10 after just ten minutes.
Fly
half Henry Mitchell got Pocklington's show on the road three minutes later when
the pack drove a lineout and the home No 10 blasted through is opposite number
to score, and with Bennett adding the conversion Pocklington were level.
They
never looked back as they tackled Skipton into submission then took their chances
to pull clear. Bennett, playing out of position at centre, cut through for a try
after strong charges by Tom Stokes and Dave Birch. Then Bennett kicked the conversion
and added a penalty on the half hour mark to give Pocklington a ten point lead.
Skipton came back briefly, only for Pocklington to land to two massive blows
on either side of the interval. In the last minute of the first half Pocklington
were under pressure at a scrum on their own line. Mitchell cleared with a good
kick to halfway only to be flattened late by a Skipton back row. The offender
deservedly departed to the sin bin, and the resultant penalty took Pocklington
to within sight of the visiting line - 130 yards gained in two kicks. The lineout
was efficently secured and driven and flanker Scott Littlefair broke off to crash
over, Bennett's conversion making it 27-10 at the break.
And Pocklington went
further ahead with another long range score just two minutes into the second period.
Lock John Tilley bashed up from the kick off, then Bennett took over on halfway
and dummied and sidestepped 60 yards for a great solo score.
Pocklington were
virtually out of sight and they almost added another score soon after. Matt Davies
gave a perfect demonstration of the meaning of 'impact sub' coming on as back
row replacement and charging 50 yards with his first touch before Skipton got
back to kill the ball. It was one of those days where every player stood up and
played his full part, but Bennett was the obvious choice as Yara Phosyn man of
the match for his 22 points, although on this occasion he hit the post with the
penalty. Wing Joe Holbrough was quickest to react but the ball just slipped from
his grasp as he went for a follow up try.
To their credit Skipton then threw
everything at Pocklington in an attempt to rally in the last quarter, aided by
a string of penalty awards. But Pocklington's defence again held firm both when
Skipton tried to go wide or to batter up the middle. And Pocklington's tackling
was so solid that on a number of occasions the visitors' attacks just ran out
of ideas.
Home fullback Steve Shephard also made a number of elusive runs out
of defence, but Skipton got a late consolation when a five yard scrum went down
in the dying minutes and they were awarded a penalty try. Pocklington's hard working
pack could have felt a little aggrieved as it was the first scrum collapse of
the day, but it was never going to effect the result or take the gloss of an excellent
day for players and supporters alike.