INJURY-HIT York RI went down 48-8 to Ripon in Yorkshire Two at New Lane.

RI's ever increasing injury problems meant they were forced to field a much-changed side and they had to make more alterations during the game as they picked up further injuries to key players Ian Hassell, Matthew Yates and John Armstrong.

The game was evenly poised at 3-3, Matthew Yates and Ripon's Scott McAra exchanging penalties, when RI were dealt a double blow as both Hassell and Armstrong were carried off with ankle injuries.

It changed the game completely with RI's reshuffled side containing wing forwards on the wing and in the centre.

Try as they might these changes proved too much and tries by Fred Oakes, Paul Goldsmith and Tom Marsden, two of which were converted by McAra, plus a drop goal by Chris Leonard, gave Ripon a 25-3 half time lead.

RI rallied briefly in the second half and reduced the arrears when Sam Harland scored in the corner. But this period of RI pressure was soon to come to an end when the injury jinx struck again, Yates hurting his ankle while clearing his line.

Ripon took advantage of RI's plight to run in two further tries, one by Jason Bell and the other by Oakes, converted by McAra, to run out 42-8 winners.

The official Yorkshire Three result of Malton and Norton's home game against Bramley Phoenix was a 0-0 walkover.

Bramley were unable to field a side with sufficient front row players to satisfy regulations and Malton took the two points.

As a result the fixture became a friendly with uncontested scrummaging, not the ideal situation for a large crowd at The Gannock.

Malton took the opportunity to rehearse their full repertoire of moves in a match which proved to be little more than an opposed training session for the home side, who never really got out of second gear but still managed to run in ten tries.

Nine of the scores came from the backs with Ian Cooke adding to his season's points tally with three tries and four conversions in a 58-0 romp.

Liam Cowton added to his growing reputation with two and Tim Chapman, appearing as a second-half replacement, also bagged two. Skipper Chris Creber and his fellow Aussie, Nick Tyson, along with Carl Rushworth had one each.

At half-time Malton made several changes with veterans Chapman and Richard John replacing Matt Richmond and Arthur Wilson in the centre.

Andy Newsome replaced Tyson at scrum-half and young James Machin made his debut in the pack.

None of the changes made the slightest difference to the fluidity of the play and coach Pat Stephenson is in the enviable position of having a number of options in most positions, particularly in the backs.

Updated: 12:32 Monday, October 29, 2001