Leaders given scare by title rivals Heath

Yorkshire One: Leaders Malton and Norton scraped an 18-17 win over title rivals Heath, with winger Josh Saunders scoring two tries and Tom Gravell kicking a conversion and two penalties.

For Heath, centre Martin Moana, flanker David Montgomery and No 8 Ian Downsborough all scored tries and Matt Hallett kicked a conversion, but it was not quite enough for victory.

Second-placed Sheffield, who have two games in hand, reduced their deficit on Malton by one point when they scored four tries in a 29-21 home victory over York.

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The visitors went ahead through a penalty by Karl Birch after seven minutes, and there was no further score for 15 minutes until Sheffield flanker Martin Balshaw ran in the first of his three tries.

Balshaw’s second was converted by Donal Collins, and Birch pulled back a second penalty to make the half-time score 12-6.

Collins kicked off the second half scoring with a penalty before Balshaw crossed again for a try, Collins converting.

York reduced the arrears when right winger Charlie Nicholson scored try and Birch added a third penalty.

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Andy Kelly, Sheffield’s captain and No 8, ran in a try which Collins converted, but York had the last word when scrum-half Arran Thompson touched down and Birch converted.

North Ribblesdale, with two games still in hand, moved ahead of York into fifth place but were given a close call in their home match against next-to-bottom Dinnington.

Ribblesdale went 22 points up before the visitors scored.

Dinnington got the score back to 27-22 at the turnround, and they went close to overturning the result, scoring seven tries to six before eventually settling for two bonus points.

No 8 Danny Hughes ran in four of Dinnington’s tries, with the others coming from Will Marshall, John Stimpson and John Somerville.

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Scrum-half David Fox and winger Simon Bolland scored two tries each for Ribblesdale.

Scarborough, who were just two league points ahead of their rivals, notched a 50-11 home victory over Castleford.

Full-back Graeme Jeffrey scored a hat-trick of tries for Scarborough, and others came from scrum-half Diene Morete, centre Paul White, fly-half Phil Stewart and replacement Marcus Edwards.

Matt Jones kicked six conversions.

Yorkshire Two: Leaders Pocklington, who had gained a four-try bonus point within half-an-hour, went on to score a 48-19 home victory over fourth-placed Yarnbury.

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Pocklington turned round 33-0 ahead beforeletting Yarnbury in to win the second half 19-15.

Pocklington’s first-half tries were split between flanker Scott Littlefair, winger Dan Pickard, centre Tim Nixon, fly-half Henry Mitchell and No 8 Matt Davies. Nick Bennett converted four.

Second-row Ian Maycock and replacements Andrew Butterfield (prop) and Graham Maycock (centre) scored second-half tries for the visitors, two converted by Ian Bartlett, while Pocklington were restricted to two further tries by scrum-half Ben Rees and second row Ed Bean, with Bennett converting one and adding a penalty.

Pocklington are now 16 points clear of second-placed Huddersfield YMCA, who did not play on Saturday and now have two games in hand.

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Barnsley, in third place, had stand-off Patrick Jensen to thank for their 33-17 win at Doncaster Phoenix. He kicked four penalties and converted all three tries from No 8 Dave Read, full-back Aaron Grant and second-row Ed Norris.

Yorkshire Three: Wath on Dearne took their winning run to 20 games and their match points over 1,000 when they ran in 14 tries on their way to an 86-3 home victory over bottom-placed Old Otliensians.

Winger Brett Small scored four of Wath’s tries, with two each coming from No 8 Matthew Burrows, flanker Joe Earp and centres Steve Mason and Andrew Hopkin.

Second-placed Baildon dropped a point on Wath when they were restricted to one try in a 13-10 win at York RI.

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Rotherham Phoenix came from behind to score a 25-23 home win over higher-placed Goole, clinching the match with a late penalty by Tom Jenkinson.

Goole had turned round 20-7 ahead, Rotherham’s first-half try coming from centre Owen Swift, converted by Jenkinson.

Swift scored another try after the restart, when winger John Bunclarke also touched down.

Prop Craih Fenton, No 8 Phil Jackson and scrum-half Christopher Hancock scored Goole’s tries, with Mike Stoakes converting one and adding two penalties.