YORK Rugby Union Club's visit to Percy Road ended in a rather more decisive outcome than either side probably anticipated, York being easy victors by 39-5.

Pocklington won the toss and conceded the wind to their opponents, no doubt with a plan for early siege defence and subsequent wind-assisted sustained pressure attack.

In the event the match was virtually over at half time when York led 24-0.

Pocklington's problem was not so much one of policy but of implementation as a couple of York's early tries were assisted by soft defence.

Indeed, the hosts started the brighter of the two sides and the handling of their outsides was a feature of their game.

They moved the ball about quickly, with the forwards combining well and a Dan Clappison burst and kick had York struggling on their line.

Pocklington earned a penalty as York were pressured offside but the strong wind hindered Clappison's kick.

York responded through their forwards, who were to prove the game's deciding force.

Despite the absence of line-out man Dave Spanton, York dominated this sector, with Andy Kay outstanding and Brad MacDonald giving good support. This enabled early breaches to be made by forceful runs from prop Dave Dorking and flanker Lee Denham.

Within ten minutes York went ahead when Rob Liddle went down the wing, breaking free from a loose tackle to feed inside to centre Sean Bass, who gave the scoring pass to full back Mike Ford, who ran in from the 22 but could not convert.

Pocklington used a passing game to combat the wind, with full back Mark Taylor often prominent, but York enhanced their lead with a back row triumph.

Denham made the initial break from a cleverly angled run, with MacDonald feeding flanker Matt Emmerson before Kay made the final surge to the line for another unconverted try.

Within five minutes Liddle, Bass and Kay combined down the left to establish a bridgehead from which centre Stu Davies chipped ahead to gain the benefit of a kind bounce and careless defence for a try which Ford converted.

At 17-0 down Pocklington were still playing well enough to suggest that the second half might be a different story, but with half-time approaching Bass applied the coup de grace when he accelerated into a gap in his own half, brushed off a tackle, and scored wide out. Ford made an excellent conversion.

The wind abated in the second-half and York were able to field kicks and run back into attack which assisted them in gaining a stranglehold on possession.

Within ten minutes York went further ahead when they forced a line-out close to the Pock line. They developed a rolling maul and scrum half Spik Arkle wriggled over for an unconverted try.

The hosts reverted to their running game and posed threats, but as they tired much more space was available to York than they have been accustomed to.

Inside the last 15 minutes fly half Mark Roberts dummied into a huge gap in the Pocklington 22 and scored unopposed, but Ford could not convert.

Pocklington responded immediately with a clever Kevin Bowling chip which caught the York defence off guard. The ball was swiftly transferred left to sub wing Rob Parsons who opened his side's account with a neat try.

York were determined to have the last word and Roberts exploited space down the right to run 30 metres for an unconverted try.

York, still three points adrift of the top half of the table, have several winnable matches ahead but they will have to deliver this level of fluency under more competitive pressure.

With the last quarter of the season in prospect Pocklington seem to have a heavy task ahead to avoid relegation, with a five points and three matches discount to the safety zone.

Updated: 12:06 Monday, February 11, 2002