THE trusty boot of George Davis came to the rescue of York RUFC, who countered late on to eke out a 20-20 draw against visiting Yarnbury in Yorkshire One.

It was a much-improved performance on the previous loss to Wath, but the Clifton Parkers were still culpable of failing to capitalise on good possession.

A defensive slip out wide by York allowed the visitors to score a converted try after only a few minutes.

As the game settled, York built good phases with the pack driving the ball well.

A penalty for hands in the ruck gave York’s Davis his first attempt at goal which he converted to close the deficit to 7-3.

Continued infringement by Yarnbury at the breakdown eventually exhausted the referee’s patience and a yellow card was shown.

And when the ball was spun wide, fullback Nixon took advantage and crossed to score in the corner. Davis again converted to put the hosts ahead for the first time.

But York failed to consolidate enabling Yarnbury to regain their composure and send over a penalty to tie the scores by half-time.

On 58 minutes, an excellent break by the influential Bates, who took the ball deep in the Yarnbury half ultimately fed Nixon, who crossed for his second try. Another conversion from Davis put York 17-10 to the good.

But sloppy play by York in the later stages of the second half allowed Yarnbury back with a brace of unconverted tries and a 20-17 lead.

As the came neared its end, good field position prompted the concession of a penalty from which Davis tied up the see-sawing clash at 20-20.

The spurning of decent pressure, especially in the first half, was pivotal in Selby RUFC’s 36-23 loss at Yorkshire One leaders Doncaster Phoenix.

Selby spent almost the entire opening quarter in the Phoenix 22, but all they had to show was a Josh Cruise penalty after 15 minutes for offside.

Phoenix however translated rare pressure into points via two tries from Ado Sheehan, one of which was converted by fly half Ben Millar.

A 48-metre penalty attempt from Cruise just fell short after 30 minutes. But the kick from defence fell to hooker Duncan Hardy who crashed into the Phoenix defence with the ball re-cycled by centre Alex Webster to put Hardy in for an unconverted try.

A Millar try under the posts and an easy conversion and drop goal by the same player put the home ranks 22-8 up by half-time.

Selby were in the ascendancy at the start of the second half, reducing the arrears with a penalty from scrum half Cody Whittaker.

Soon after there followed a brilliant individual try from skipper and full-back Dan Porter.

But Phoenix increased their lead five minutes later after a Phoenix catch and drive failed to bring any reward. Centre Andy Ellis crossed and Millar added the extras.

Selby rallied with greater pressure and a dropped pass near the line was pounced on by Hardy to score under the posts and bring Selby back to 29-23 and in sight of at least a losing bonus point.

With victory in the offing to both teams, Selby squandered two penalty attempts.

Inevitably, this led to leaving huge gaps in defence with Phoenix scoring against the run of play with a try from speedy full back Craig Deakin.

That man Millar obliged again from the conversion to also deprive Selby of the losing bonus point in the 36-23 reverse.