Yorkshire Two

Malton and Norton 20pts, West Leeds 33pts

West Leeds were gifted victory by a strangely out of sorts Malton and Norton, who were given a lesson in percentage rugby.

The visitors played to a simple plan of kicking for position whenever possible and pressurising Malton into errors once they had gained field position. Indeed, three of the five tries scored by West Leeds were as a result of Malton mistakes.

The home side opened the scoring after 20 minutes when a lineout in the corner was won and, from the resulting ruck, hooker Steve Piercy sprinted over to open his account and Will Barber converted.

West Leeds responded with a try from their left wing, which was converted to level the scores. Right on half-time, Malton pressed the self-destruct button. After winning a defensive lineout, they amazingly tried to run from behind their own line. Under severe pressure from the visitors, the ball was dropped and any one of three players were on hand to touch down. The conversion meant that Malton faced a half-time deficit of 14-7.

After the interval, Barber converted a penalty when a visiting forward handled the ball in a ruck and was sent to the sin bin for ten minutes. But it was West Leeds who began with more aggression, despite being a man short for the opening minutes.

The next score came after yet another fine positional kick from Leeds fly-half David Breakwell found the corner. The visitors won the ball and Breakwell launched himself over the line. They were gifted another try when Malton again tried to run the ball from defence instead of clearing their lines. A poor pass went to ground and the visitors seized on the loose ball to score, Breakwell again adding the extras.

The visitors' final try came from a mazy run by centre Phil Thompson from just inside the Malton half. The home side staged a brief recovery in the final 15 minutes. Barber reduced the arrears when he broke from 15 metres out to cross the line. Flanker Richard Webster, who was excellent throughout, reduced the arrears further with another try but it was too little too late and West Leeds kept their unbeaten record and top place in the league.

Hopefully, Malton will have learned from this experience. Percentage rugby may not be pretty but can be effective. The team needs to use its ability to mix and match their game should the occasion arise.

Coach Pat Stephenson felt his side had given West Leeds too much respect. "We were very guilty of over-estimating them. We stood back and waited for them to do something.

"We gave away two really soft tries which cost us but you have to remember that the average age of the side is only about 23 or 24, so we need to have patience. There are not many old heads in there."

And the Malton and Norton coach believed that, despite his side's first defeat in the league, his side were coming to terms with life in a higher division.

"We are learning that there is not an immense amount of difference between this league and the one we were in last year. I expect us to go in to the Ripon game (at home this Saturday) with a postive attitude."

Malton and Norton have been drawn away to Wensleydale in the second round of the Powergen Junior Vase. Wensleydale play in Durham and Northumberland division four.

Updated: 09:56 Wednesday, October 02, 2002