YORK Acorn got their National Conference League first division campaign off to a scintillating start.

With their forwards dominant they smashed visiting Wigan St Judes 62-22 rattling in 11 tries.

Acorn were first out of the blocks with second row Tommy Hill making strong ground followed by Nick Speck and a super pass from Joe Porter to put centre Ryan Gallacher in. Antony Chilton goaled the first of nine conversions he enjoyed.

St Judes hit back after 12 minutes with a well taken ball to Brett Taberner, who forced his way over. Dean Hunt converted.

Acorn responded immediately, a superb offload from prop Danny Caldwell gave Speck the opportunity to dive in.

On the half-hour St Judes were back in when fullback Nathan Jones outfoxed the defence for an unconverted try.

But the hosts countered twice before the break. First, Jordan Myers skilfully stepped between defenders to touch down before prop Daryl North crashed over under the sticks. A successful conversion made it 22-10 at the break.

The second half was only two minutes old when Acorn pounced again.

Josh Thompson was able to tap the ball back to keep possession. From the resulting set, Tom Hill went close before Davey Burns made a strong carry. Chilton obliged.

St Judes applied pressure but a short grubber was picked up by Thompson who off-loaded to Gallacher to race 50 metres before successfully giving the ball to supporting fullback Joe Budd who finished off.

On 57 minutes, it was Thompson’s turn to score after receiving a wild pass from Tom Hill. He shrugged off two attempted tacklers and rounded the fullback to score.

St Judes rallied to notch the next two tries, through hooker Nathan Bevan and then Taberner.

This re-galvanised Acorn, who responded with another Thompson break. He made 50 yards before being ankle-tapped five metres short, but he rolled over and was able to pass to the supporting Budd for his second of the game.

Acorn’s ninth try came just two minutes later.

Joel Johnson, on the other wing, initiated a superb break and off-loaded to Joe Porter who rounded the last line of defence.

With five minutes left to play Acorn had not finished.

Harry Bromwich powered forward, supported by his long-time playing partner from junior rugby, Lewis Lord, who crossed comfortably.

With the last play of the game it was Lord’s turn to turn provider and tee up Bromwich for the 11th try of a superb Acorn display.

While Chilton kicked nine conversions and Thompson was outstanding, the game was won by the sheer dominance of Acorn’s pack who created all the gaps and ultimately wore out the St Judes defence.

The man of the match award was given to Acorn’s scrum half, Andy Gargan, whose experience to guide the side around the field was a pleasure to watch.