Malton and Norton fly the cup flag for the York area tomorrow.

They are in Yorkshire Shield action at Stocksbridge in which should be a straightforward game for the joint Yorkshire One leaders.

The South Yorkshire side are in the bottom half of Yorkshire Three and even though Malton are expected to rest a few players they should still have enough firepower to reach the next round.

Full-back Jason Simpson rests an arm injury, so Will Barber moves from the centres to take his place. That switch allows Ryan Lonsdale to return to the back after recovering from a rib injury.

Both stand-offs Jon Newsome and Chris Creber are carrying knocks and only one of them will play at Stocksbridge while reserve scrum half Matt Myers will get a run out.

In the front row, Carl Muscroft, who has changed his surname from Rushworth, is unavailable, so Ed Gwilliam comes in at prop.

Tony Reynolds comes in to the second row as a replacement for the rested Phil Ryan.

Pocklington's scheduled Yorkshire Shield game against Leodiensians is off as the Leeds side are still involved in the Intermediate Cup.

So Pocklington have arranged to travel to old rivals Ripon in a friendly fixture. The Shield game is rearranged for January 17.

Pock have made half a dozen changes tomorrow, including bringing in Yorkshire Under-18s centre, Brad Bold, now that he is free from his county commitments.

Also included is Alex Stuart, brother of Scotland 'A' centre, Jon, in the back row. The emphasis remains on youth with nine teenagers in the squad of 21 players. The Merovingians are in action against Leodiensians at Percy Road.

York RI are in the same boat as Pock as their Shield opponents, Northallerton, are still involved in the Powergen Junior Vase so the New Lane side are without a game.

York were due to take on Selby in what would have been a hard-fought friendly.

But with more than half of Selby in France for the Leeds match against Toulouse, the fixture was cancelled on Thursday night.

Leeds, meanwhile, will have a mountain to climb in their Heineken Cup Pool Two match tonight.

Toulouse went down to a shock 23-16 defeat at Edinburgh last weekend leaving them more determined to get a result out of their tie with Leeds on home turf.

The stakes will be raised to virtual 'international' level, according to Leeds boss Phil Davies, and he acknowledges it will not be easy with a vast improvement needed from last week's Pool Two match.

Davies said: "We will need an enhanced performance this week frpom last Sunday's game against Neath-Swansea Ospreys.

"I played in France on a number of occasions during my career, and the games are always played in an incredible atmosphere.

"It will be like a mini-international, and that is the level that we are aspiring to be at on a regular basis, but we are not there yet."

In the other pool two match, Neath-Swansea Ospreys take on Edinburgh at 7.30pm.

Leeds v Toulouse kicks off at 6.30pm.

Updated: 12:46 Friday, December 12, 2003