ANDY Gair and his York colleagues are waiting to hear from the Yorkshire RFU over the sending off of Dave 'Spanner' Spanton in the match against North Ribblesdale.

The club, who claim they have no problem with the referee's decision itself, are willing to dispute the nature of the red-card should Spanton be charged with stamping.

Spanton was given his marching orders after he had aggressively attempted to ruck out a North Ribb player, just moments after Brad MacDonald had been yellow carded for a similar offence.

Gair said his side were warned following MacDonald's sin-binning that the next offence would be dealt with more severely.

Gair explained: "When Brad had been yellow-carded, the referee said that was a team yellow-card and the next would be red.

"At the next ruck, Spanner came in and tried to ruck one of their players out of the way, but unfortunately the referee deemed it to be an offence.

"If it goes in as stamping we will find out whether we can challenge - and I will be speaking to Spanner about it.

"He is one of the most disciplined players I know and stamping is just not in his nature. If the referee reports that it was over aggressive play, then that is fine, but I don't want Spanner's reputation damaged for something like this.

"Both sides were warned, so I've no gripes with the referee as we did not heed this warning."

THERE are also plans afoot for a change of coaches at York with current chief Andy Gair set to move 'upstairs' next season to become the club's director of rugby.

Gair, who will still be involved in the running of the side, will look to develop the coaches at the club - a role he has been effectively been doing this season.

No decision on a replacement has yet been made, although the club are talking to "one or two players" who could form part of a coaching team with current player-coach Matthew Emmerson.

DRIFFIELD took the Tetley's-sponsored York Veterans Festival title after a thrilling day's rugby at Clifton Park.

Inspired by Otley second row Ian Carroll - fresh from playing against Rugby in National One the previous day - Driffield saw off the challenge of a patched up Selby side 10-0.

A close game saw Selby, who only arrived with 12 and roped organiser Tim Godson into their number as they begged, borrowed and stole players to survive, did have the chance to score but the final was just a stage too far.

York, who lost to Sandal in the group stage, missed out on the final after crashing 26-0 to the eventual winners in the last four.

In the other semi-final, Selby overcame Sandal with a try in sudden death overtime after the match had ended at 0-0.

In the plate competition, the North Yorkshire Police lost all three of their group games, but were handed a bye into the final after their scheduled opponents decided to pull out after a run of hard contests.

But in the spirit of the competition, a couple of RI players revived enough to help out the Police in the final against Halifax Vandals, who had beaten Northallerton in their semi.

Unfortunately, the Vandals managed to edge it 7-0 with Dave O'Byrne, chairman of York, presenting the Plate to his brother, Mick, captain of the Vandals.

A 40-STRONG crowd from Pocklington travelled to Widnes on Saturday to roar Rob Webber and Charlie Allen on in their final England Under-16s matches of the season.

Although, the results were not the best for the English, Pocklington School prop Webber and Woldgate School full-back Allen both impressed as they played for the full 70 minutes.

Webber stuck to the tough task of trying to contain a bigger and more experienced Welsh outfit for the England U16s - completing his third successive full match for the side.

Meanwhile, Allen had his hand in a try from winger Thomas Dawes as England U16s 'A' drew 10-10 with their Wales counterparts.

A set move saw Allen time his run to perfection to take the ball from a modified miss-move, breach the Welsh defence before setting Dawes clear.

Unfortunately for Allen and England, it was not enough to fully avenge their early one point defeat against the Dragons.

Despite their displays, Allen and Webber will have to return to square one for next season though as they look to gain selection for the national U18s side.

FORMER Pocklington coach Gary Pearce has proved he is the King Midas of rugby union after guiding Hull to the Yorkshire One title.

Having guided Pock to many a golden victory - including their famous Yorkshire Shield triumph in the 1999/2000 season - the ex-Wales international has maintained his winning formula on the east coast.

And having gained promotion to North Two East, Pearce is already looking a stage further and aiming to reach North One - and then perhaps even the National Leagues.

Pearce told the Evening Press: "I won three titles at Pocklington and the Yorkshire Shield and now the league with Hull.

"You never stop learning and I think that is what has helped me, but you need that little bit of luck as well."

Updated: 11:12 Saturday, April 20, 2002