YORK Acorn ARLC crashed 48-8 in a bad-tempered battle at Widnes St Maries - after at one stage being reduced to ten men.

Widnes had just began to pull away in the second half when a brawl broke out which saw both teams have one player sent off and another sin-binned.

Prop forward Lee McTigue was red-carded for Acorn and his brother, Martin, yellow-carded, and within minutes, player-coach Darren Callaghan - who was having a decent game up to then - was also sin-binned for mouthing off at the referee.

Widnes scored three tries in the ten minutes that followed and the game was effectively over, leaving Acorn lying third from bottom of National Conference division one.

Acorn had trailed 12-2 at half-time, Kyle Palmer kicking their only points, but pulled it back to 12-8 when Matt Embleton scored a try and Palmer converted.

Widnes, though, responded with two tries before the brawl broke out, and they ended with ten tries in all, plus four goals.

Acorn coach Alfie Hill had had to shuffle his cards as six first-teamers were unavailable, but it was a disappointing day all round for the Blue and Golds.

Heworth ARLC also suffered a heavy defeat, falling 46-10 away to Stanningley in division two.

The Villagers began well and led 6-0 after six minutes and 10-6 after 27 minutes, but Stanningley hit back both times and, after a three-try blast in ten minutes before half-time, went clear in the second half.

Centres John Coulson and Rob Speich got Heworth's tries, the first of which was converted by hooker Carl Potter, and it looked like the Villagers were not missing injured player-coach Chris Smith.

But then basic mistakes crept into the visitors' game and, as a consequence, their excessive tackling requirements took their toll.

Stanningley scored first-half tries through centre Steve McGeechie (2), loose-forward Chris Rouse and second-row Paul Robinson and extended their lead after the break through full-back Matty Wilson (2) and substitutes Gary Whittaker and Alex Gross. Man of the match Stuart McGill converted all but one of their tries and often troubled Heworth with his distribution.

Strong performances for the Villagers came from stand-off Luke Judson and loose-forward Dan Briggs, while prop Gary Endersby worked hard, but it was to no avail and Heworth, like Acorn, are still awaiting their first win since the opening day of the season.