Durham RU

Yorkshire were big and strong in the front five and pacey in the back-row. They used their forwards to good effect throughout in the windy conditions.

Durham, to their credit, never gave up and battled hard to match Yorkshire for territory and possession.

However, the home side made the most of every chance presented to them, and eventually ran in six tries.

Championship favourites Yorkshire opened their account in the opening minutes with a try from winger Horsfall (Wharfdale). Durham responded well, testing a stern Yorkshire defence at every opportunity.

Despite a commendable effort, particularly in defence, Durham conceded a try. Fly-half Barker (Wheatley Hills) jinked over to score after the Yorkshire forwards had served up good, quick ball for the backs.

Durham's cause was boosted after 31 minutes when Yorkshire's Solomi (Halifax) was sin-binned for persistently going over the top of rucks.

The visitors made good use of the numerical advantage, pressuring the Yorkshire line with a series of scrums and lineouts. Durham were unlucky not to score during this period of pressure after a cheeky Bazey (Durham University) chip into the goal area.

However, their pressure and hard work finally paid dividends when Grieves (Durham University) converted a penalty to make the score 10-3.

Moments after, however, Yorkshire scored again through Horsfall despite a strong cover tackle from Craig Shepherd (Billingham). Turning around 15-3 down, Durham started strongly playing against the wind but Solomi emerged from the sin bin to score a try, Barker adding the difficult conversion.

Yorkshire put the game beyond all doubt with a try from Steel (Otley) who crashed over from close range. Full-back Smith (Durham University) completed the scoring when he capitalised on a lucky bounce in the dying moments of the game to run in under the posts. Buck (Leeds Tykes) added the conversion to make the final score 34-3.