YORK'S visit to Beverley ended in defeat by 21-6, thereby continuing their run of losses in friendlies to sides from a division below.
True that York fielded only half their full squad, but Beverley were also short-handed and were full value for their success - adapting much better to the heavy underfoot conditions.
The home pack was well organised and played as a unit, while their backs ran fast and direct with scrum-half Ian Archibald directing play with well-placed kicking.
By contrast York were often ragged with their lineouts often in disarray.
The backs kicked possession away by hitting the man rather than the space and, with ball in hand, they tended to run across field only to be cut down by Beverley's sharp marking and tackling.
As a result, potential match-winning winger, Rob Karma, got little opportunity to add to his leading try-scorer tally.
Beverley took the lead after ten minutes when centre Tony Riby broke through the middle and transferred to overlapping fly-half John Fisher who touched down to give Archibald an easy conversion.
York sprung to life with a good forwards' handling which enabled full-back Tom Copeland to burst into the line and send winger Nick Kay on a long run. All this was spoiled when a loose pass in the Beverley 22 was intercepted by Riby and he sent fellow centre Mark Winter on a long run to the line for an Archibald-converted try.
York's only response was a Ben Quick penalty but the prospect of a helpful second-half wind gave the travelling supporters hope of halting the flow.
In the event, the wind only served to help Quick kick them away from their own line.
He added a penalty after 20 minutes to give York a glimpse of salvation but, within five minutes, this was dashed when another speculative pass was intercepted by Winter for Archibald to convert and put the game beyond York's reach.
SELBY put in a superb display in difficult conditions to beat Goole 13-8.
Andy Gabel and Martin Bramley both crossed for tries, with Toby Pemberton tagging on a peanlty to seal the win over higher-ranked opposition.
Updated: 11:17 Monday, March 10, 2003
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