YORK RI Rugby Union Club crashed out of the Junior Knockout Cup with a disappointing performance in losing 12-3 at Skipton.

The first half was evenly balanced, with RI having to defend for the first 10 minutes then coming back strongly to pressurise the Skipton line.

They took the lead with an Armstrong penalty when Skipton where penalised for being off side.

RI held the lead until the stroke of half-time when, from a speculative kick from stand-off Oldfield, the ball eluded the RI cover allowing winger James to touch down in the corner. Oldfield converted to give Skipton a 7-3 half time lead.

The second half was only five minutes old when Skipton went further ahead. A missed tackle allowing winger James to score his second try.

At 12-3 down it looked as though RI could still win and they pounded the Skipton line, with Atkins, Maddigan and Hassle all going close, but to their credit Skipton defended heroically to keep their line intact.

In the end RI were disappointed to have lost but made too many mistakes to deserve anything else.

Updated: 11:58 Monday, December 17, 2001