IT was unlucky 13 for everyone else as York RUFC confirmed top spot in Yorkshire One heading into the festive break thanks to a 51-28 victory over North Ribblesdale at Clifton Park.

It was not York’s best performance of term as they rounded off the calendar year but the bonus-point win still left them 13 points clear at the summit after 13 wins out of 13 league games, captain Chris Fox leading the way with a hat-trick of tries.

North Ribblesdale also secured a deserved bonus point - after being the first visiting team to score four tries at Clifton Park for some time.

York made several changes with Eddie Westerby making his debut, James Hartley returning after injury and 23-year-old Kyle Consterdine being given a first start at hooker.

Ribblesdale kicked off and, after a scrappy start, they were awarded a scrum 10 metres out. Clean ball allowed Ryan Sumner to walk in virtually unopposed for a converted try and 7-0 lead.

But, almost straight from the restart, York were awarded a penalty which they kicked to the corner. A straightforward catch and drive resulted in a try for Lewis Hannibal, although the conversion was missed.

Ribb went straight back into the York half and, again from a scrum, walked straight through the York defence to score and secure the conversion to make it 14-5.

Play again reverted to the Ribb half and York finally starting to put some good phases together. After good passing from the backs, Gareth Singleton scored a 15th-minute try and Jon Dawes added the conversion.

York now started to dominate possession and, after great work by Daz Rutherford, Fox scored his first try to put the hosts ahead for the first time, with Dawes' conversion making it 19-14.

Play was now confined to the Ribb half and, just before half-time, a lineout set the position for Toby Atkin to score the bonus-point try out wide. Dawes missed the difficult conversion but it was still 24-14 at the interval.

The second half started with York back in the Ribblesdale half.

The home forwards dominated possession and the team eventually turned that into points after 50 minutes as the ball reached Dawes who powered through to the line from 30 metres.

Ribb were now kicking to relieve pressure but were punished by an excellent kick return from George Davies. The ball was then passed through the backs for Singleton to score in the corner to make it 36-14.

York were pressing their advantage home and, on 58 minutes, Fox went over down the wing following a good passing move.

Fox was not finished - his hat-trick try arriving after 65 minutes as Liam Hessay found him running a great line at pace.

To their credit, Ribb were not finished either and came back at York with some strong running.

Following a penalty kick to the corner, they crashed over from the lineout and secured the conversion to cut the gap to 46-21.

But play again reverted to the Ribb half and, after a dazzling run from Rutherford, which included a show and go, he released Atkin to score again.

There was still time for Muller to score an interception try for Ribb, with Michael Thwaite kicking a difficult touchline conversion to give him a 100 per cent record on the day.