Malton & Norton aces cast struggles aside with 55-0 triumph (From York Press)

Malton & Norton RUFC aces cast struggles aside with 55-0 triumph

10:30am Monday 15th October 2012 in Sport

Malton & Norton RUFC’s season finally kicked into top gear as they cruised to a 55-0 victory over Durham City in North One East.

The triumph at The Gannock eased Malt’s troubles near the foot of the table and provided a timely confidence boost for Chris Creber’s men.

Within two minutes of the kick off, Malton had the first score on the board. Good forward play involving debutant prop Danny Johnson and hooker Nick Salisbury produced good, quick ball for the backs.

Fly-half Chuck Ramsay’s break split the defence apart to send right wing Tom Newitt in at the corner. From the restart, a good catch by Ali Coe was quickly moved on to the backs and Newitt appeared in midfield to take the pass and race away to score from 60 metres out.

Ramsay added the conversion and a rout was on the cards. Once again, Malton struck from the restart. A series of forward drives took play deep into Durham territory before Ramsay again made the break to send full-back Ian Cooke over for a third try in less than ten minutes.

Just before the break, good forward play and ball retention produced a try for skipper Paul Dobson to supply a 22-0 half-time lead.

With only two minutes on the clock in the second period, Newitt took a tap penalty and the ball was quickly transferred across field to debutant wing Rob Dempsey, who raced away from the Durham defence to score beneath the posts and Ramsay converted.

From a set scrum close to the Durham line, number eight Sam Triffitt picked up and fed scrum-half Dan Cattle, who went over under the posts to give Ramsay another simple conversion.

Midway through the half, another pick up by Triffitt and pass to Cattle produced a converted try. Then Johnson made a strong break on halfway before handing on to flanker Henry Barnes 40 metres out. The youngster streaked away for his first try in senior rugby. 

When a Durham clearance failed to reach touch, centre Ryan Lonsdale sauntered 50 metres through some feeble tackling to touch down. Ramsay’s conversion completed the scoring.

Meanwhile, having suffered three successive early defeat, Pocklington made it three wins on the trot with a comfortable six-try 42-7 home success over bottom club Darlington in North One East.

In a scrappy first half, Pock went ahead through an early touch down from flanker Jack Holbrough. They made a mess of other golden opportunities before centre Jake Bishop sliced through on the half hour. Nick Bennett’s conversion and 50-yard penalty made it 15-0 at the break.

Darlington stuck to their task and were first to score in the second half with a close range converted try. But Pock pulled away with 27 unanswered points in the final quarter.

Wing Josh Britland scampered in on the left, centre Joe Holbrough surged under the posts and, with replacement fly-half Henry Mitchell pulling the strings, right wing Dan Pickard crossed twice in quick succession.

Full-back Bennett kicked another penalty and two more conversions to complete the victory.