MALTON & Norton RUFC suffered a bad day all-round as they crashed 38-0 at Driffield in North One East.

The result saw the Kelleythorpe-based hosts leapfrog Malt in the table, with the Ryedale side slipping into the bottom half again.

To make matters worse, they lost captain Sam Triffitt to a head injury just three minutes into the match, meaning the skipper will be sidelined for the mandatory 19 days for concussion, missing the next two games starting with Saturday's visit of Consett.

Club spokesman James Knock said: "Malton, now heading the bottom half of a fluctuating league, will look to secure maximum points against lowly Consett, while addressing on the training pitch in midweek the soft underbelly so cruelly exposed at Kelleythorpe."

Packman Triffitt's early departure brought a reshuffle which saw Matt Bowman go to number eight and Will Hughes to seven, and Andy Mitchell come off the bench to fill in at lock.

Malton spent 10 minutes pressuring Driffield's 22 but with no result. Instead, a turnover gave the hosts chance to kick downfield with the wind behind them and they earned and converted a penalty on 15 minutes - fly-half James Watts beginning his 100 per cent record with the boot.

Seven minutes later Driffield scored wide out and, with the hosts again camped on the Malton line, prop Ed Gwilliam was rushed on to take over from young Ted Hughes. The effect was minimal as Driffield crossed again.

Malton kept coming back at their hosts but a combination of good tackling, turnover and stripped ball saw Driffield administer another blow on half-time, the converted try making it 24-0.

The wind, a feature of the first half, should have been in Malton's favour in the second but became inconsistent.

Malt tried to run the ball back at Driffield but, with Tom Foan coming off to be replaced by former colt George Austin-Thompson for his first senior appearance, they lost their thrust in midfield and seemingly ignored their winger at 11, who instead had to go looking for the ball.

Malton's forwards also set up drives for two, three or four phases before releasing the ball instead of going for phase five, six, seven, eight - the method which had yielded recent results.

Moreover, failure to address the malaise of the first half and yielding hard-won ball to an eager Driffield pack was a feature of most of the second period, with promising field positions given up too easily via a combination of penalties and turnovers.

On a day when a full head count was a must, Will Bell was then sin-binned on 65 minutes for a high tackle.

When he returned, Driffield upped their game and broke through, the fine midfield move ended with a run-in try.

Malton's misery was compounded two minutes later when the Driffield pack shoved their eight over the line at a set-piece for a fifth try.