York travelled to Pocklington looking for their first win of the season following two narrow defeats in their opening games.

York kicked off and Pocklington immediately tested the York defence with powerful drives from their forwards retaining possession well. After 15 minutes of attritional rugby, the pressure finally told with Pollock going over to score and converting his own try.
From the restart, York finally gained possession and started to test the home defence with some good handling and powerful running from the backs. The scrum was still firmly in Pocklington’s control with York in reverse on most occasions.

York were however in the Pocklington half and after 30 mins won a penalty for offside which Declan Cusack converted.The game now switched to the York half and it wasn’t long before John Paul Kelly scored after good work from the Pocklington pack. Pollock converted well from the touch line. 14-3.York were quick to respond. Lewis Hannibal won the ball at the break down and sprinted 60m only to be tackled by the full back 20m short. York continued to press and and Toby Atkin dived over to score with Declan Cusack adding the conversion.York now changed their point of attack, attacking the centre of the Pocklington defence. From a line out, Cusack picked out Goulding running a great line to power through the defence and score under the posts. Cusack again added the conversion giving York a 17-14 half time lead.

The first 15 minutes of the second half were played entirely in the Pocklington half - eventually the pressure told and Cusack stroked over a penalty from 40m to extend the York lead to 14-20.From the kick off, Pocklington again started with their forward dominated attack pressurising the York line. From a York scrum 5m out, Pocklington turned on the power resulting in a penalty try. Straight from the kick off, Fox regained possession for York and attacked the Pocklington defence. Another penalty allowed Cusack to convert taking York back into the lead. The game was now more open and following a York turnover, Goulding collected the ball and charged 70m through the Pocklington defence to score with Cusack converting, taking the score to 21-30.

York had clearly learnt from the two previous games and played some controlled rugby to close the game out. Pocklington did gain a deserved losing bonus point with a last minute penalty. Final score: Pocklington RUFC 24 v York RUFC 30

Next week York have another local derby at home to Malton.