GETTING two vital league points will be more important for York Wasps tomorrow than settling old scores.

That is the view of Wasps centre Carl Hall ahead of the much-anticipated grudge match with Hunslet Hawks at South Leeds Stadium (kick off 3.30pm).

The rearranged Northern Ford Premiership clash has been given an extra edge to it because of the controversial circumstances surrounding the postponement of the original encounter on Boxing Day.

That match was called off just 30 minutes before kick-off because of a frozen pitch, with some Hunslet players allegedly calling York 'soft' for not wanting to play on the rock solid surface.

The Wasps, including Hall, were angered by the criticism, claiming it would have been stupid and dangerous to play. But today the Kiwi ace said the best way to hit back at the Hawks was to beat them on the pitch.

"It's not a grudge match, just a match we want to win," he told the Evening Press.

"We're just focusing on the game and getting our defence right. We're not bothered about what they said in the past.

"If we worried about that and tried to even up the scores we would get penalised off the park and won't win the game.

"We've got to focus only on winning, not on what was said. It might motivate a few of us but it does not worry the likes of me or (captain) Peter Edwards."

Hunslet are only two points ahead of win-less Wasps in the table, with only one victory in seven matches. But Hall was not expecting an easy ride.

"It's a fantastic opportunity to get off the mark, but we can't say they're one of the weaker teams because we're the ones at the bottom, not them," he said. "Every team we play are hard and we've got to battle to win. But we should do well. If we can play the same as against Villeneuve, maybe better, we should be all right.

"I think we've deserved a win after the way we've played at times and the way we've trained, but teams don't just give you them."

Coach Leo Epifania has also played down the apparent hostility with Hawks but admits his side are "pretty fired up for it".

"We've come up against a few of the top sides so far and we haven't had an opportunity of taking on a lower-placed team in the league," he said. "We know this is probably our best opportunity so far to turn the corner.

"That said, we should have won some of our other games and we should have performed better, but we can't make excuses all year."

With loose-forward Mark Cain able to rest a niggling leg injury last week, Epifania is sticking with the starting line-up which performed admirably against Villeneuve in the Challenge Cup a fortnight ago.

However, their are changes on the bench. Rob Lee is ruled out as his ankle is still swollen, while Andy Precious, whose hip injury has cleared up, has nevertheless been unable to train and is set to miss out.

In comes three-quarter Craig Moore, who will return for his first game back with the club after rejoining from Gateshead, alongside second-row Darren Crake, who is ready to return after missing the last game due to the birth of his daughter.

Ian Kirke is also fit to take his place on the bench, with Andy Lee the one to make way.

Updated: 10:56 Saturday, February 23, 2002