POCKLINGTON were out-muscled on their visit to Ripon, where the bigger home pack laid the foundations for a comfortable 26-0 Yorkshire Two victory.

Pocklington, with a young set of forwards, six of them under 23, were put under immediate pressure by Ripon's powerful set scrummage.

Somehow they held out and were able to launch an occasional counter-attack, until Ripon ran the ball back to open the scoring with a simple penalty.

Typically, Ripon's first try came from a scrum, with their back row breaking to crash over in the corner.

Pocklington never really threatened the home line but Kevin Bowling was unlucky to see a well-struck penalty come back off a post, and then Pock enjoyed a period of attacking at the start of the second half.

However, Ripon held firm, and as Pocklington ran out of steam in the loose, worn down by their efforts in the set pieces, Ripon were able to take control up front.

They had a series of attacking scrums after camping inside Pocklington's 22 for long periods, and they used their forward foundation to cross for three more tries and add a further penalty.

To their credit Pocklington's young forwards, two of them teenagers, kept going to the end, driven on by live-wire teenage scrum-half John Frank.

And Pocklington ended the game on the attack but were unable to press home their late advantage and finished without a consolation.

Updated: 12:38 Monday, November 04, 2002