YORK RUFC 'A' hit the heights after a bitty opening half to register a 28-5 victory over Hull 'A'.

Tom Copeland put the Clifton Park hosts in front when the second of two penalties was successful before York front row forward Adie Martin was sin-binned.

A penalty to York, in the dying minutes of the first half, was changed to a scrum. York heeled cleanly and No 8 Nathan Savage picked up and charged over.

Ten minutes into the second half Sam Arkle scored a brilliant try. Collecting the ball at pace, he carved his way through the Hull defence with a series of bewildering body swerves and side-steps to score from 40 yards.

It was soon followed by another Copeland penalty to put York in total control.

With Nigel Durham kicking superb positional ball time after time York's forwards were unstoppable.

Copeland stopped a certain Hull score with a crunching tackle which caused his opponent to go off. Jeremy Clutton then fed off a Copeland break to dive over under the posts and Copeland, putting on his best display of the season, added the extras.

Full-back Copeland crowned his huge contribution by overlapping his wingman to dive over on the corner-flag. Hull got a consolation try on the final whistle.

Updated: 11:33 Tuesday, October 22, 2002