A fine second half display was the key to York RI's 35-12 Yorkshire Three victory at Hemsworth.

On a pitch where in some places the grass was inches high, play in the first half was scrappy but it was RI who adapted the better.

They went 6-0 ahead with two Matthew Yates penalties and just before the break went further ahead.

From a scrum on the Hemsworth line RI won the ball against the head and from the resulting drive Garrett Mallon crashed over for his fourth try in as many games. Matthew Yates converted to give the visitors a 13-0 half-time lead.

The second half was only five minutes old when RI increased their lead.

From a line-out on the halfway line a catch by Tim Thomas was fed to scrum-half Ward, who slipped the ball inside to Tim Nash.

He burst through the home defence and his pace took him deep into Hemsworth territory. When tackled short of the line he passed back to Tim Thomas, who crossed under the posts. Yates' conversion made the score 20-0.

Hemsworth hit back almost immediately with a try by second-row Jenkins and converted by stand-off Conway to reduce RI's lead to 13 points.

RI second-row Danny Wright, another product of last season's youth team, was next to make his mark on the game when he burst through the Hemsworth defence to score his first try in senior rugby.

Yates converted and two minutes later kicked his third penalty to make the score 30-7.

An opportunist try by Conway reduced the arrears but RI finished the game on a high when winger Fatai Oketete crossed in the corner to complete a comfortable win.

Updated: 09:53 Monday, November 01, 2004