BUOYANT York City Knights celebrated their new community stadium agreement by demolishing South Wales Scorpions 64-0 to underline their promotion aspirations and complete a wonderful weekend for the club.

In truth, it was not a great spectacle, with referee Tom Grant blowing 21 times for penalties – 15 in York’s favour – as the Scorpions continually messed around at the ruck and prevented any real fluid to-and-fro rugby from breaking out, seemingly trying to bring their visitors down to their level.

But, with 11 tries in the bag, a much-changed Knights side – five first-teamers were given the weekend off – still had far too much for the League One whipping boys, despite a performance which at times got scratchy, understandably so in such circumstances and given the ease of victory.

The try-scoring was led once again by Kriss Brining, with a second hat-trick in two weeks off the bench, all of them trademark efforts from dummy-half.

Brad Nicholson also bagged a brace, as did Greg Minikin - one being set up superbly by debutant Brad Hey, who gave Ford extra food for thought.

The Scorpions themselves showed five changes to the side thrashed 70-0 by the Knights on one of their on-the-road games in Featherstone.

On that night in May, the Welshmen had begun the better, only to be rolled over as the game wore on.

Here, the Knights, aided by two cheap penalties, asked all the early questions and took a sixth-minute lead as Nev Morrison, seemingly held up on the try-line, had the strength to get over.

The touchdown could count as reward for his man-of-the-match performance last week against Newcastle, when he didn’t get his name on the scoresheet, as deserved.

It probably should have been two after Mark Applegarth, enjoying himself against the Scorpions’ powderpuff middle unit, was held up over the whitewash in centre-field. Pat Smith sent out a long pass to the left where Ben Dent had space but could not take the ball on the hoof.

It nevertheless was two when Minikin scythed through, demonstrating the class that will see him join Castleford next season.

The Knights were not at their best with the ball, as a few loose passes and unforced knock-ons helped the hosts get a foothold in the game.

Nevertheless, some cracking football from Pat Smith helped to increase the lead – Smith seemingly aiming for an upright with a little grubber kick and hitting it, the ball rebounding perfectly for Brad Nicholson to score.

Then replacement hooker Brining did as Brining does, spotting a half-chance from dummy-half and taking it.

He did it again in the next attack, taking advantage of space around marker and sending in Jonny Presley, who had been wise to the break.

Tyler Craig extended the 28-0 half-time lead four minutes in the second stanza with a solo try from a scrum on half-way, crashing between defenders and having the pace to run in unopposed.

Brining was soon at it again to notch his second, and from the restart Hey streaked forward down the inside-right to send Minikin sprinting in.

Just before the hour mark, a Presley jink and jive saw Ryan Mallinder take his team past the half-century mark.

A rare, and brief, spell of home pressure saw Connor Farrer go close, held up by the sticks, but, like in the reverse clash in May, the Scorpions ended the game pointless, the Knights having clearly set themselves the goal of keeping a clean sheet.

The hosts’ frustration manifested itself in late nonsense which firstly saw Jonny Leather sin-binned after being offside on his own try-line immediately after his side were warned for persistent offending.

It all threatened to boil over a couple of times before it finally did, Osian Phillips being deemed to have started an all-in fracas which saw both him and Ed Smith yellow-carded for throwing punches.

At 11 against 12, Brining completed his treble - surely opposition teams will wise up to him some time soon - with James Haynes adding his ninth conversion from ten attempts, and Nicholson blasted through for his second try on the hooter, Ben Dent adding the final extras.

It all completed another big win on the scoreboard for James Ford's high-riding team, further enhancing their points-difference superiority over rivals in the play-off race.

But it's the victory off-the-field just over 24 hours earlier, which at last gives them a home and a proper training base, that could well be the most significant one come the end of the season.

 

MATCH FACTS

Scorpions: Leather, Williams, Edwards, Scrivens, Parker, Davies, Emanuelli, O Phillips, Farrer, Petelo, Symons, B Phillips, C Davies. Subs (all used): Connor, R Davies, Rainer, Millington.

Tries: none.

Conversions: none.

Penalties: none.

Sent off: none.

Sin-binned: Leather 70, O Phillips 74.

Knights: Haynes 7, B Dent 6, Minikin 8, Craig 7, Morrison 7, Presley 7, P Smith 7, Applegarth 7, Carter 7, Blagbrough 6, Cunningham 7, E Smith 7, Mallinder 7. Subs (all used): Brining 8, Hey 7, Nicholson 8, Roche 7.

Tries: Morrison 6; Minikin 13, 52; Nicholson 27, 80; Brining 32, 50, 76; Presley 35; Craig 44; Mallinder 59.

Conversions: Haynes 6, 27, 32, 35, 44, 50, 52, 59, 76; B Dent 80.

Penalties: none.

Sent off: none.

Sin-binned: E Smith 74.

Man of the match: Kriss Brining – he missed out on this gong after his hat-trick last week but it would be too harsh to overlook him after a second successive treble.

Referee: Tom Grant (Leeds) – a tough one for the official as he could be criticised for blowing his whistle a lot yet also for not clamping down on the ongoing messing about around the ruck.

Penalty count: 6-15

Half-time: 28-0

Weather: sunny evening.

Attendance: 202

Moments of the match: Greg Minikin’s first finish was made to look easy as the centre showcased the skill and poise that has attracted Castleford Tigers, and his second followed a fine break from debutant Brad Hey.

Gaffe of the match: to be caught offside on your try-line immediately after your side were given a team warning for persistent offending is pretty daft. South Wales’ Jonny Leather did just that and was sin-binned.

Gamebreaker: to be fair, the Scorpions never really looked like threatening to score, never mind winning.

Match rating: it was a routine win for the Knights given their form and the Scorpions’ ongoing struggles to compete with League One’s leading clubs, but it wasn't a great spectacle given the ease of victory, niggling fouls and a lack of fluidity to the game.