YORK RI finally put some mixed performances behind them with an emphatic 29-10 victory over Northallerton.

As expected, Northallerton's bigger pack had the upper hand in the early exchanges pushing the home pack back in the scrum and driving forward in the mauls. And they went in front after 15 minutes when RI were penalised on their own 22.

Despite the pressure, RI defended well. Strong running, combined with neat passing among the backs, allowed the home side to make ground into Northallerton territory and when the visitors killed the ball a tap penalty was slipped to hooker Webster to crash over to score.

RI went into the break 5-3 ahead and were starting to look more confident, with the pack now getting on top of their bigger opponents.

The seond half was only seven minutes old when RI increased their lead. A magical run by stand-off Matthew Yates left the visitors' defence in tatters as he sliced through to score under the posts.

His conversion put RI 12-3 in front. A try by Northallerton reduced the arrears but the comeback was soon stifled as first Yates and then Tim Nash broke through to score, both were converted by Yates putting RI 26-10 ahead and, with only ten minutes to go, out of reach. A penalty by Yates gave RI a victory they richly deserved.

Updated: 09:59 Monday, November 15, 2004