THEY have a perfect record.

Twelve games, 12 wins. But York RI RUFC are “very confident” they can end Wetherby’s unbeaten run when they host the Yorkshire Four leaders at New Lane tomorrow.

Head coach Dan Coates wants to “set the tone” for the second half of the campaign, and feels a victory over the West Yorkshire outfit could still lead to promotion this season for his hard-to-beat outfit.

RI are 24 points behind Wetherby in the table but have lost only three of their 11 matches.

They were thrashed 51-8 in the first meeting with Wetherby but Coates feels a lot has changed since then.

“We will be very confident,” he said. “We have had record numbers in training - 32 and that was without six regulars. Everyone is keen and ready to go. We feel we are very competitive. We have been making a real fuss of this game and there is a really good feeling around the club.

“It would mean a lot to the lads and a lot to the club to win. It gives us hope of promotion. I don’t think anyone else in the league will beat Wetherby - but I feel we can. It’s an eight point game.

“We are a lot stronger than when we first played them at the start of the season. The scoreline didn’t really reflect the result and we have seven players that didn’t play last time. Confidence is high.”

Coates has a full strength side from which to choose and that has made selection a tough task.

He added: “I have had to choose from 30 and I have had to let a few players down this week. There have been a couple of games where we have dropped off and haven’t played as well. We have to set the tone for the second half of the season. Win this game and we feel we can go and get promoted - either in second or in first place.”

York RI have also announced they are looking to appoint a youth development officer who will attend schools and try to get more youngsters interested in playing the game at New Lane.

Malton & Norton are still firmly fixed on winning the Yorkshire One title.

The Gannock side host Middlesbrough looking to keep up the pressure on Doncaster Phoenix - their unbeaten rivals who have an eight-point advantage at the top of the table. Malton eased back into the New Year with a comfortable 36-6 victory over Heath.

Pleased with that display, club chiefs are hoping the memories of a 43-13 defeat in Teesside in September will spur the players on to another fine performance as they look to extend their 17-point gap over third-placed Yarnbury.

Spokesman Bill Laidler said: “We were absolutely dreadful up there when we were beaten earlier in the season.

“It was our worst performance for quite some time. We will be a lot better than that.

“That performance will certainly spark a flame-up. If we get a win this week we will probably be 20 points clear (of third). It’s a motivating factor but we could still catch Doncaster Phoenix. The other thing is that we need to get as good a playing record a possible so, if we finish second, we will get a home play-off game against a Durham/Northumberland One side.”

The only changes from the Heath victory come on the bench with Sam Harrison in for Mark Bradshaw, who is unavailable, and Tom Newitt replacing Mark Perkins.

Pocklington host Wheatley Hills in North One East and have selected a preliminary squad of 20 players, with threequarter Jack Walters returning in place of the unavailable Dan Pickard, who replaced him at Alnwick.