MAN of the match Jason Kane scored one of the tries of the first round of the National Cup as Heworth saw off Knottingley Rockware 32-12.

From a restart ten minutes into the second half, the second-row forward collected the kick from behind his own goal line, broke the first line of defence, rounded the full-back and sprinted the length of the field to touch down under the sticks.

Dave Carling converted the try to give Heworth a 28-8 lead at the time and end the game as a contest.

It had been a fairly easy victory for the Villagers who were never in any real danger of suffering a shock loss.

Spokesman Ken Sykes said: "We could and should have scored more then the six tries we got, but in the end it was a comfortable win and sets us up nicely for the (National Conference League division two) derby against York Acorn next week."

Heworth led 16-8 at half-time against the Yorkshire League second division outfit, thanks to tries by Rich Darling, Carling and Nathan Witty, plus a conversion and penalty from Carling.

In the second half, Jason Gatus' touchdown plus Carling conversion was followed immediately by that try from Kane, and Nikki Wilson rounded off Heworth's scoring with a 60-metre effort.

Rockware score their third try in the last minute through Mark Hinchcliffe, their previous touchdowns coming from prop Paul Scott and impressive centre Clifton Richardson, but it was nothing more than a consolation.

Updated: 12:38 Monday, January 14, 2002