Heworth enjoyed their return journey north after cruising into the second round of the Silk Cut Challenge Cup with a 32-12 defeat of the Royal Air Force at Uxbridge.

The York side were taken aback by a bright RAF opening, with the Middlesex-based outfit missing a penalty before opening the scoring on 13 minutes through a try by scrum-half Simon Hicks.

However, Heworth came back strongly and saw two tries in two minutes ruled out before a third try in the third consecutive minute was allowed.

Gavin Grant and man of the match Jason Gatus were the unlucky scorers who saw their touchdowns rubbed off, but Mark Green's effort on 19 minutes, following a break from a scrum, was allowed.

Heworth then took the lead when centre Wayne Foster ran onto a Dan Briggs pass to score, with Carl Potter adding the extra two points.

The York outfit made it a hat-trick of disallowed tries on 39 minutes when John Coulson's effort was ruled out for a forward pass, but seven minutes after the break, he got his reward when going over following good passing by Potter and Briggs, Potter adding the conversion.

The RAF hit back with a penalty by Hicks to make it 16-6, but Heworth stretched their lead through an Andy Mercer try before the hosts went over themselves, Scott Simon getting the touchdown converted by stand-off Damian Clayton.

Heworth, however, killed the game off with two tries in the last ten minutes, Foster scoring his second after a good run by Grant and Potter touching down after an interception and unselfish pass by Gatus. Potter converted both tries to complete the scoring.