YORK RUFC shot up four places to sixth in North One East with a 36-28 win at basement side Consett.

The bonus-point victory carries the Clifton Park outfit 15 points away from the relegation zone, although it was not without frustration as Jon Dawes left the field with what seemed a serious ankle injury.

This coming Saturday, York welcome fourth-placed Huddersfield YMCA to Clifton Park.

York demonstrated their trust in home-grown talent by including four 19-year-olds for the trip to County Durham, alongside inside centre Chris Peace who returned from a four-month absence.

The visitors went on the attack from kick-off with controlled rugby in the Consett half. Space was at a premium on the small pitch and York had to work hard to create opportunities, with Will Scholey and Daz Rutherford carrying well while the forwards and backs combined to build pressure.

After 12 phases, York broke through on 15 minutes, spreading play wide to Rob Hodges who finished well, side-stepping the first defender while handing off a second to touch down for an unconverted try.

York continued to press a resolute Consett defence from the restart and, from a scrum on the Consett 22, York executed a training ground move for Hodges to score his second, with Dawes adding the conversion.

When Consett enjoyed possession in the visitors' half they were able to pressure York, but Freddie Smith was tackling well.

Liam Hessay pushed Consett back into their own half with some controlled kicking from hand and, just after the half-hour, Toby Atkin darted in for York's third try after 19 phases of play wore down the defence. Dawes added the conversion.

Consett regained possession from the restart and got their first score of the afternoon from a good move to make it 19-7 at half-time, just before which Dawes became a victim of York's injury curse.

Dawes' replacement, Sam Elliott, came in at number 10, with Hessay moving to full-back. It did not take Elliott long to announce his arrival as he chipped through a flat defence and showed good pace to beat the covering players to the ball and touch down. Hessay added the extras.

With the wind at their backs, Consett reduced the arrears again after a powerful driving maul allowed them to notch their second converted try.

Both sides were now playing some attractive end-to-end rugby. On the hour, an excellent move by the York backs allowed Sam Forbes to break through and draw the last defender before passing to Hessay, who went over wide on the left for an unconverted touchdown.

It was now Consett’s turn to score another converted try as the teams traded blows before Hessay collected Elliott’s pass on halfway and burst through. A straightforward offload to Forbes put him in for his first try of the season.

There was just time for Consett to secure their bonus-point try after a lovely inside pass from Dougie Patterson opened up the York defence.

North One East rivals Malton & Norton were due to play a Yorkshire Cup quarter-final at Sheffield but conceded the tie in advance. On Saturday, Malt travel to high-flying Morley in the league, while Pocklington - who also had last weekend off - host Cleckheaton.

Selby, another side not in action last Saturday, will be looking to pull further away from the Yorkshire One trap door this coming weekend when they welcome Old Brodleians to Sandhill Lane.