Pocklington went to the top of the Yorkshire Three table with another convincing victory, this time 48-17 away to Leeds Corinthians.

Pocklington went into the game in second place while Corinthians were camped at the bottom. But Pocklington got an early wake-up call as Corinthians missed three penalty shots at goal inside the first ten minutes.

Pocklington finally got their act together, with young fullback Charlie Allen getting them moving with some twisting runs from deep. And after 20 minutes they worked the blindside for wing Rob Jackson to dive in at the corner.

Once they had got their noses in front Pocklington started to cut up the home defence with some excellent angles and pace from their three-quarters, resulting in a trio of tries for centres Henry Mitchell (2) and Rich Williams, two converted by stand-off Kevin Bowling, to put them 24-0 up at the interval.

Pocklington moved further ahead in the second half as Allen sliced through to the posts for Bowling to convert, then flanker Adam Pears plunged in.

But they then took their foot off the pedal and Corinthians' pick-up and drive tactics brought them three tries in quick succession. Pocklington pulled themselves together and replacement centre Brad Bold went in at the corner with his first touch.

Bowling had departed early to catch a plane to Dublin and wing Fergus Purtill moved to stand-off and completed the scoring when he shimmied under the bar and converted himself.

With long-time leaders Castleford and nearest rivals Northallerton both losing Pock were left on top of the pile ready for the run-in.

Updated: 11:53 Monday, February 23, 2004