Rail steal early march

And with a trip to Skipton looming in just five days' time for the Tetley's Bitter Vase clash, York know they will have to do it all again.

RI started well with the forwards and backs combining to pressurise the Skipton line, but two missed penalties gave the visitors some breathing space.

However, RI took the lead when from a Skipton drop out, wing-forward Ashley Casey caught the ball and ran unopposed to the Skipton line, Armstrong converting to give RI a 7-0 lead.

Skipton hit back almost immediately when from an RI mistake, winger Hill made ground to the RI 22, fed flanker Davidson who crossed in the corner.

The rest of the first half was end-to-end with both sides creating chances but not taking them.

Early in to the second half RI extended their lead when, from a Skipton infringement, Armstrong converted the penalty to make the score 10-5.

Again Skipton hit back to level the scores. Missed tackles allowed Skipton winger Hill to scamper over in the corner.

The longer the game went the more RI gained control. Ferocious tackling in the centre by Erickson Atkins and Nick Humphries gradually drove Skipton back and when a ball was spilled the latter was on hand to snap up the loose ball, sprint through the defence, draw the full-back and feed John Paul for the winning score.

Pocklington gained a welcome 27-19 win at home to West Park Bramhope.

Pocklington had to make a series of last-minute changes, but they were given a boost as fly-half Kevin Bowling made an early return after a hernia operation.

And Bowling quickly made his mark with a fifth-minute drop goal as Pocklington set off on a whirlwind opening - going 15 points up in as many minutes.

Good back play saw full-back Mark Taylor join the line to charge over, then wing Rob Parsons dribbled 50 yards down the touch-line and lock Stewart Rowley followed up to touch down, Rob Nolan converting.

West Park came more into contention and pulled seven points back from a converted try.

Decisions at both ends went against Pocklington to put the game back in the melting pot, as West Park scored again after a clear knock-on, while straight away a Pock' attack ended with Nolan having a try disallowed.

The interval arrived with Pock' only three points in front at 15-12 and this lead looked shaky as West made a strong start to the second half, but the defence held firm.

Pocklington swapped kickers with wing Andy Walker landing four successive penalties to edge his side out of sight, although in injury time, West produced their third score from a breakaway try.

York drew 15-15 with North Ribblesdale in their Yorkshire One match at Clifton Park and were very fortunate to escape with even a point when, in the last few minutes, North missed an easy match-winning penalty.

York had started very well with Mike Ford kicking a useful penalty goal in the third minute and after 15 minutes scrum-half James Arkle spotted North's flankers breaking early from a five-metre scrum to nip through the gap and score. Ford converted.

North came back well with Ian Cawperthwaite converting a penalty and after 30 minutes York attempted a speculative blind pass when on attack. North's Steve Devoy accepted the gift and raced to the York 22 where he transferred inside to Jim Richards who touched down for Cawperthwaite to convert and give his side a 10-8 lead at half-time.

York came out for the second half with fervour and threatened to sweep North away but they fell victim to losing possession and conceding penalties. North's No 8 Jim Thwaite and scrum-half Mike Card were becoming increasingly influential and after 60 minutes they made their mark when Card strolled over.

But with six minutes to go Roberts dummied and jinked through and Ford made the conversion to equal the scores.

North were immediately back on attack and powerful winger, Paul Ridgeway, was just held up in the corner by a York defence which was very sound throughout.

As injury time loomed, York conceded a stupid penalty, but the kick from in front of the posts was incomprehensibly missed by Cawperthwaite and York escaped.

Selby fought hard to stay in contention, but they just couldn't stop Old Brods running away with a 40-22 victory.

Both defences remained on top until Brods stand-off Cole showed the ball and sent two Selby players the wrong way to score under the posts. Standeven converted.

Selby scored next with a Ray Adamson penalty and although they were dominating the lineouts and looked to be gaining the upper hand, Brods flanker Shaw broke clear and found support from winger Beverley who sped away for a converted score.

The score on half-time shook Selby's confidence and they started very shakily and were penned in their 22 for the early exchanges. The defence though held firm and they attempted to run the ball out when a move broke down and the opportunistic Shaw kicked ahead and raced on to pick up and score.

The home side's tails were really up now and superb inter-linking play saw Standeven score twice on the bounce.

Selby recovered their pride and a series of drives saw flanker Duncan Phillips drive over for a try for Adamson to convert. Virtually from the kick off Selby set up a position and repeated the score with John Hick this time claiming the try.

This play lifted the team's spirits and the backs ran out of their 22 to set up a series of scrums and finally the ball was worked back for Wright Phillips to barge over.

Time though was running out, and although Selby had clawed back Brods had the last laugh and their backs ran riot for Standeven to complete an impressive performance

Malton and Norton's promotion hopes in Yorkshire Three took another dive as they crashed to a 17-7 defeat at fellow contenders Otliensiens.

Despite having the lion's share of possession and territorial advantage for most of the game Malton failed to capitalise and were punished on the few occasions the hosts threatened.

After 15 minutes Otliensiens put together a series of moves and breached the Malton defence and open the scoring with a good try.

Malton moved down field from the restart but far too often gave away possession.

Malton three-quarters looked dangerous in spells but were unable to break down a solid defence and the next score came from the home side when a Malton forward was penalised for being offside at a ruck.

The second half closely resembled the first with Malton holding territorial advantage for most of the time but being constantly driven back by a more committed home side.

With their only attacking position of the half, Otliensiens were awarded a five-metre scrum and drove forward.

The referee then caused some confusion by indicating a penalty against Malton and calling 'free ball'.

Both packs broke up and, to the astonishment of all around, a penalty try was awarded against Malton for breaking up while the ball was still in the scrum.

Malton tried hard to get back into the game and were rewarded when flanker James McKay picked up from a scrum to force his way over. Andy Newsome converted and with 20 minutes still to play Malton were looking the stronger.

A good move was developing with Malton about to recycle the ball with a clear overlap emerging when the whistle went for a penalty to Malton for an offside offence which did not interfere with play.

Words were exchanged between Newsome and the referee and a red card was brandished as a result, reducing Malton to 14 men for the final 15 minutes. This proved too much of a burden to carry but no further damage was inflicted.

Harrogate made it three wins in a row with a 39-21 demolition of Stourbridge.

They were on top from the second minute when scrum-half Rhys Morgan darted under the posts for Lee Cholewa to convert.

Stourbridge hit back quickly with a converted try, but Cholewa kicked a penalty and then coverted John Dudley's try.

The scoreboard continued to tick over as No8 Richard Wade ghosted over for Cholewa to convert and add a penalty.

Stourbridge did push forward only for centre Jamie Barker to kick long from defence and wing Jeremy Marr to win the race for the touchdown.

Stourbridge did score through Duncan Hughes and Daniel Farani, with Harvey adding the extra points.

In between though Harrogate emphasised their superiority with their fifth try - Cholewa shimmying through a gap to touch down and the add the conversion.

Updated: 12:08 Monday, December 10, 2001