York Groves ARLC overcame a short squad to keep up their promotion hopes in Pennine League division five with an impressive 20-12 triumph at West Craven Warriors.

Chris Corr was the hero with a hat-trick of tries, while Paul Fowler, Matt Withers and Latham were Groves' most influential players as their team scored five tries to Warriors' two, but clearly missed regular goal-kicker Jason Dunn.

Groves raced out of the blocks, their pressure paying off when a series of quick passes working the ball out wide ended in a neat grubber kick being touched down by Corr.

Groves continued to dominate but were unable to turn pressure into points and it proved costly when the hosts scored a converted try despite suspicions of offside.

A moment of brilliance from winger Liam Withers re-established Groves' lead. Collecting the ball midway in his own half, Withers sprinted around the outside and crashed into the corner to put the Terriers 8-6 to the good at the break.

Groves started the second half much like the first, and they took advantage as Corr again showed composure to go over in the corner.

The impressive Rob Latham extended the lead when he feinted to go one way from acting-half and simply crashed through tackles to score Groves' fourth try.

Corr had time to complete his treble with another quality finish in the corner before West Craven had the last say with a late consolation.

Heworth A' put in a brave performance at Sherburn before losing 25-8 in Yorkshire League division three.

The Heworth side, with an average age of just 20, tackled like Trojans in an entertaining but robust first half with Sam Johnson, Ben Eastwood and Paul Gill to the fore. This pressure allowed them to gain the first points after 30 minutes when Carl Smith raced in at the corner from a Gareth Kirby kick.

The hosts, however, took the lead on the stroke of half-time with a converted try. It was only a matter of time before they took hold of the game with their big, physical forwards dominant.

They added a further three converted tries, plus a field goal, though Heworth were rewarded for their efforts when Joe Murphy picked up a loose ball to dash 30 metres to the line.

Skipper Kenny Embleton and young charges Sean Holmes, Tom Speck and Rich Rogers stood out in a fine team effort.