New Earswick All Blacks slipped to the foot of the National Conference League second division after another agonisingly narrow defeat on Saturday.

They were beaten 14-12 by Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks at White Rose Avenue in a game which could have gone either way.

All Blacks thought they had clinched the points in the closing stages only for Simon Malarkey to have what looked a perfectly good try ruled out for a knock-on.

The Hawks had the better of the first half and led 12-4 at the interval.

A try by prop Scott McLean, converted by scrum-half Jon Nicholls, gave Sheffield an early 6-0 lead before New Earswick hit back with a Carl Pallister try after Lee Paterson had dummied his way through the defence.

Winger Nathan Hall extended the Hawks' lead with a try which was again converted by Nicholls.

Ten minutes before half-time All Blacks man of the match Lee McTigue and Hawks hooker Lomas were sin-binned after exchanging punches. Lee Paterson then went close to cutting the deficit but spilled the ball over the line.

The second half was dominated by the All Blacks, so much so that Hillsborough only entered the New Earswick half twice throughout the 40 minutes.

A Dave Carling penalty pulled the score back to 12-6 before Nicholls replied with one for the Hawks on 50 minutes - the last time the visitors were to enter opposition territory.

A McTigue try two minutes later, converted by Carling, left New Earswick just two points adrift but they were unable to grab the match-winning try.

Malarkey's disallowed effort summed up the All Blacks luck of late. And their misery was complete when they discovered London Skolars had pulled off a shock 24-6 win over Blackbrook to condemn All Blacks to the bottom of the table.

York Acorn's match at Crosfields was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.