York St John's struck the first blow in the battle for university rugby union supremacy after beating York University 26-13 in the opening match of their BUSA campaign.

York University were the first on the board with a converted try early on, and stretched their lead to 13-0 before St John's found their feet with a try from fresher Kayvon Azidi following some slick work in the backs.

More governing pressure from the forwards engineered breaks in the line for the backs, and Azidi added a second before the end of the half, full back Ian Cook converting for a 12-13 half-time score.

Another strong start to the half by York left the St Johns Lions camped on their line for 15 minutes until they found a second wind and the forwards started to dominate and relieve the pressure.

Frustration crept in and flanker Mark Oliver was sin-binned for ten minutes. The Lions though kept up the pressure and it paid off when fresher winger John Davis broke through for a try under the posts for Cook to easily convert.

York Uni made several last efforts to attack but failed to find a way through the St John's defence. Davis again scored after a thrilling backs move left him clear for the line with just five minutes to go. Cook drop-kicked a classy conversion from the far left to rack up a winning 26-13 score.

Updated: 09:25 Saturday, October 22, 2005