THE Yorkshire Men's League's Forty-20 Cup has stayed in York after New Earswick All Blacks beat Oulton Raiders 'A' 18-8 in a cracking contest at Heworth's Elm Park Way ground.

It looked like Oulton were in line for the trophy after getting on top in the first half, but All Blacks swung momentum back their way and took the spoils thanks to tries by teenager George Hunt, Dean Smith and captain Adam Kirby.

It means that Minster city clubs have won this competition in three of the five years it has been held, with York Acorn 'A' triumphing in 2013 and 2016, and getting to both finals in between too.

For All Blacks, it was the first time they had entered having switched to the Yorkshire Men's League from the winter Pennine League last year, and player-boss Jack Stearman, whose side also sit second in division one, reckons it already shows the move to summer rugby was the right one.

"You can't really complain," he said. "We've started off really well. We've played 11 and won 10 now - and lifted silverware.

"Winning is becoming a habit, and training sessions are good and that's pushing the quality up on the pitch.

"We're getting two teams out and the lads are enjoying it. We're pushing forward as a club and hopefully we've started something successful."

Oulton - who had named five first-teamers from their National Conference League team in their squad for this final at Elm Park Way - went ahead in the opening exchanges, but 17-year-old centre Hunt got over to level the scores, with Tom Holmes' conversion eking All Blacks ahead.

The Raiders then got on top and pressured the New Earswick line for much of the second quarter but the defence stayed resolute and All Blacks could even have added to their lead just before half-time but Holmes' skewed a 35-metre penalty wide.

He did knock a close-range penalty over after the interval, though, and Smith also touched down after winning the challenge underneath a Liam Gargan chip for All Blacks to go 12-4 up, reaping rewards for an improved show.

They stayed on the front foot, too, for Kirby to crash over, with Holmes' conversion making it 18-4.

Oulton fought back and a second unconverted try gave them hope but they could not find a way through again.

Stearman said: "Oulton had the best of the first half. We didn't play up to standard but we sneaked in front and we defended well. We've been working on improving our defence all season so that was pretty pleasing. Stopping them scoring in that second quarter was important.

"Half-time came at a good time for us and we had a chat about things, and we came out a different team. We believed in ourselves a bit and believed we could go on and win it."

He added: "Oulton were a strong team and threw the ball about a bit. But, as we'd said, we don't worry about what's in front of us - we worry about our own game.

"We could have looked at their team and thought about players who play in the National Conference League but we concentrated on ourselves and did the job."