PLAYER-BOSS Jack Stearman has hailed a “fantastic” start to life in summer rugby league as his New Earswick All Blacks ARLC side eye an immediate trophy triumph.

All Blacks will vie with Oulton ‘A’ for the Yorkshire Men’s League’s Forty-20 Cup at nearby Heworth’s Elm Park Way ground tomorrow night (7pm), having reached the final just months after switching from the winter Pennine League.

The form they showed in the pre-season group section of this cup competition has been continued into the league campaign, too, as Stearman’s men currently sit top of YML division one with five wines from six, one place above tomorrow’s hosts, making it nine from 10 overall this year.

Furthermore the club has been buoyant off the field too – leaving him with big selection headaches.

“We went to summer and it’s given a new lease of life to the club,” said the former York City Knights prop. “It’s about a new beginning an taking the club forward.

“To go nine from 10 is a fantastic effort and a great start and, while we know week on week is different, to be in a cup final so soon is a big part of taking the club forward.

“The week before last, we fielded a first team, an ‘A’ team and an under-18s on the same weekend for the first time. Everyone is up for selection so it’s a really tough one.”

Stearman, whose only real doubt is in-form prop Dan Atkinson (leg), added: “There will be some disappointed players but they’ll all rally round. We’re one squad in it together and whatever 17 we put out will be good enough to win.”

Oulton ‘A’ – whose first team are in the flagship National Conference League – likewise won all five games in the Forty-20 Cup group section and currently sit second in the YML’s alliance league two with four wins from five. But Stearman was taking no notice of tables.

“After beating (premier division side) North Hull in the semi-finals away, we don’t worry about league positions or past results,” he said.

“We just concentrate on ourselves and will be doing the same thing on Friday. That goes for whether we play someone higher-ranked than us or bottom of the league.

“We’ll take this one as it comes too. We’ve already gone further than we expected and if we can put an 80-minute performance in we’ve got every chance of getting the result.”

On Oulton, he added: “Any Conference League ‘A’ team will be strong. I don’t know if they’ll have first-teamers in there – that’s not down to me – but we’ll play whatever 17 is in front of us.”

All Blacks’ division one neighbours Acorn ‘A’ and high-riding Heworth, along with York Lokomotive in division four, have no fixtures this weekend. Acorn’s first team also have no fixture as the National Conference League takes a break for the bank holiday weekend.