NEW Earswick All Blacks are confident they will keep the points from their Pennine League premier division match at Halifax Irish despite the game being abandoned due to a brawl.

All Blacks were leading 14-0 when, with 68 minutes gone, the referee called a premature halt to proceedings.

A fight had broken out two minutes earlier, at which point the official awarded All Blacks a penalty and sin-binned a Halifax Irish player who, according to some spectators, was lucky to still be on the field after some questionable earlier hits.

All Blacks forward Wayne Foster took the ball up from the resultant penalty but was allegedly head-butted in the tackle. Foster reacted with a flurry of punches and other players joined in, with the referee immediately deciding to blow the final whistle.

Usually, if a match goes beyond 65 minutes, the result stands, although the matter will be decided on by Pennine League chiefs after they receive the referee's report.

All Blacks chairman Charles Rollinson said: "I've seen worse but I put no blame on the referee. He decided enough was enough.

"I haven't seen the ref's report but our lads aren't going to stand back and be bullied.

"We were the better rugby team on the day and I'm pretty confident the result will stand."

If it does stand, it will be All Blacks' first-ever victory over Irish, who had beaten them home and away last season as both teams were promoted from division one.

All Blacks are faring much better in the top tier and that form continued early in the game when a kick through from Liam Gargan led to an exchange of passes between Gargan and winger Joe Stearman for the latter to score, Carl Pallister goaling.

All Blacks, for whom Gargan and fellow half-back Ben Jones excelled, had most of the pressure in the first half as they benefited from a stiff wind, but they could not turn that into points.

The 6-0 half-time lead did not seem a big advantage with the wind in their faces, but the York outfit were magnificent in the second period.

The gap increased soon after the restart when another kick from Gargan saw winger Dean Smith hack the ball on and pounce on it in the corner.

Superb defence, with Daryl Fogg, Foster and centre Chris Spain putting in big hits, kept Irish at bay and one wonderful tackle from man of the match full-back Steve Perks denied the hosts a certain try.

Then, just before the hour-mark, another kick from Gargan saw Jones race 50 yards and side-step the full-back for a 14-0 lead.

Irish got increasingly frustrated at not breaking through before the untimely finale.

Selby Warriors' poor run in division three continued as they lost 34-14 at home to Hoyland Vikings, while York Acorn A' were turned over 26-18 by in-form visitors Wyke.