MALTON & Norton RUFC were made to work hard for their 13th consecutive Yorkshire One victory as they beat hosts North Ribblesdale 18-10.

Struggling Ribblesdale were fired up and put Malton to the sword during the first half, and only fell behind in the closing quarter of the match.

Malton’s defence were caught ball watching after a turnover and the hosts’ full-back burst through to register the first try, which was converted.

The home side were then denied a second score by some last-ditch Malt defence.

Shortly afterwards, Malton prop Rob Featherstone recovered possession and, assisted by hooker James Thornton and front-rower Nick Salisbury, set up a drive.

With the Ribblesdale defence sucked in, the ball was released to the backs for Ian Cooke to weave his way over the line.

The score remained 7-5 at half-time, but the visitors fell further behind three minutes after the restart when a stray hand in a ruck gave the home side an easy penalty.

Malton’s pack began to get on top and the back row of Ali Coe, George Harrison and Sam Triffitt swarmed all over the home side to keep them pinned in their own half.

Pressure on the home line increased and a high tackle in front of the posts gave Zweli Sodladla the chance to pulll Malton back to 10-8 down.

On 65 minutes, a series of mauls advanced slowly towards the line and, with ball control almost perfect, Featherstone burrowed over to add to his ever-increasing try tally.

An excellent conversion from the touchline by Sodladla put Malt in front for the first time, although the game was not safe until the last minute.

After another period of pressure on the home line, Malt gained a five-metre scrum in front of the posts. From the resulting ruck, Sodladla conjured a fine drop goal to deny the hosts a bonus point.

YORK RI RUFC claimed a maximum five-point haul from a 37-7 victory at Hornsea in Yorkshire Four.

RI took the lead on six minutes after a slick move ended with winger Andy Brentnall scoring a well-taken try. A determined Hornsea side were spurred into action and responded with a good converted try to lead 7-5.

That acted as a wake up call for RI, who led 22-7 at the break after two tries for Franky Rossi and one for Rob Cuthbertson.

The second half belonged to RI, who added more tries through captain Frazer Land and Stu Watson, while Rossi completed his hat-trick. Brentnall and Rossi had fine games for RI, who are now fifth in the Yorkshire Four table, but with a game in hand on the four sides above them.

POCKLINGTON RUFC lost 21-6 in gluepot conditions on their first visit to Bradford & Bingley in North One East.

Though Bradford’s bigger pack held sway in the mud, Pocklington had the edge in the first half with full-back Jack Fletcher kicking two penalties from three attempts.

However, in between, Pocklington shot themselves in the foot, dropping a pass in front of their own posts to let Bradford go over for a converted try from the subsequent scrum.

Bradford took control in the second half, but again Pocklington errors gave the home side the opportunity for two more converted tries. One score stemmed from another dropped pass on their own line, and the last from an interception.