YORK RUFC's 27-10 victory over Scarborough earned them a second round place in the Yorkshire Shield but for an hour of the match defeat at the hands of the Seasiders looked a distinct possibility.

Lower-ranked Scarborough exerted early domination through their strong well-organised pack which gave the Clifton Parkers trouble in both scrums and mauls.

York rarely saw the half way line and the speedy home winger Matt Purnell often stretched York's cover defence.

Scarborough got their reward when a neat chip ahead from fly-half Sam Smith brought an unconverted try for Purnell in the corner.

York came back more into the game with lock Brad Macdonald making in-roads, but Scarborough remained dominant at close quarters yet could not quite exploit their forward dominance when camped on the York line.

Left winger Olly Hillier went close to extending Scarborough's lead with a surging run.

On the point of half-time York got their backs moving and spread the home defence. Scrum-half Graham Smith took a quick penalty and deft handling saw Macdonald crash over to level the scores.

Scarborough started the second period as if to show York their forward strength would decide the match. An early power pushover failed through over-eagerness but early compensation arrived when Bill Freeman burst over for an unconverted try.

York soon narrowed the deficit when, after a slicing run from centre Sam Arkle, full-back Tom Copeland kicked a penalty.

On the hour York produced a wonder try when left winger Rob Kama was released in his own half. Smith transferred the ball right with a huge pass for Steve Moss-Blundell to bear down on the corner flag when Sam Arkle took the pass inside to score. Copeland kicked a fine conversion to give York a 15-10 lead.

York increasingly imposed their pace outside the scrum with Copeland and Ventress adding tries and Copeland a conversion.

Updated: 10:10 Monday, March 21, 2005