YORK ACORN ARL Club kicked off life in National Conference division one with a fine opening day victory against East Leeds at Thanet Road.

The Blue and Golds emerged 32-20 winners thanks to a late three-try burst.

They began in excellent style with tries by man-of-the-match Adam Endersby and Steve Irving, both goaled by John Hough for a 12-0 lead inside 12 minutes.

The visitors hit back with a penalty by Steve Parnell and the same player scored a try five minutes before half-time to make it 12-8. That touchdown gave East Leeds some momentum and five minutes after the restart Lee Cosgrove crossed and Ryan Angus slotted over his second goal to put the West Yorkshire side 14-12 ahead.

A Mick Hagan try got Acorn's noses back in front but with ten minutes remaining Jason Grey swung the game back in East Leeds' favour with a try improved by Angus.

Trailing 20-16 with eight minutes left, Acorn pulled the game out of the fire in spectacular fashion.

Firstly, Johnny Waldron went over to level the scores then, two minutes later, Andy Gargan side-stepped through under the sticks for a converted score. Gargan then sold a dummy pass to send Waldron through for a 60-yard effort, Hough's fourth goal sealing victory.

It may have been joy for newly-promoted Acorn but it was abject misery for Heworth who crashed 66-4 at Widnes St Maries in division two.

Young winger Michael Welsh got their only try which made the score 10-4 quite early on before the home team powered away on a 12-try romp.

St Maries have been tipped by some to be title challengers and Heworth spokesman Ken Sykes admitted it was not a game they would have chosen to start the season.

"We got out-played by a team who look like they're going to have an excellent season," he said. "We will try to draw a line under this one."

Updated: 10:45 Monday, September 05, 2005