Leeds Corinthians 10 Skipton 22

IN a game that Skipton had to win to preserve any chance of promotion, a scintillating first half-hour cemented a worthy victory over tough opponents who had the previous week beaten fellow promotion hopefuls, York RI.

The home side were missing influential No 8, Max Mliswa, but still started brightly, with only a long touch kick from scrum half Duncan Brown relieving the pressure.

Eventually on 10 minutes, skipper Declan Hayes took a strike against the head on the home 22, Myles McDuff made the first surge, with Hayes then picking up to drive further forward.When the ball was released a simple overlap had been created on the left wing for Paul Lacy, who opened the scoring with a well- worked try. Adam Oldfield's kick, although well struck, drifted just wide from the touch line.

Skipton continued to apply the pressure, using the benefit of the breeze to pen Corinthians back in their own half for long periods. After 22 minutes, Lacy set up good field position down the right wing. Second row Adam Winthrop continued the good work, but when the ball came out a poor miss pass from Andy Porter to Lacy seemed to have stifled the attack.

Lacy, however, used the apparent breakdown to leave the defence flat footed and burst past five static defenders with great determination to score under the posts, with Oldfield adding the conversion.

From the kick off, Pete Jenkinson made a great catch and drive, before Mike Beech was released down the right wing. In turn, he fed Hayes and when the ball came out into the backs, the entire Corinthians back line was caught offside on their 22, giving Oldfield a simple penalty chance and Skipton a 15-0 lead.

When, on 33 minutes, full-back George Smithson made a burst to the line before feeding McDuff, who scored by the posts, it appeared that the floodgates might open, with Oldfield again converting to make the score 22-0 in the visitors favour, but the home team showed great resolve in battling back, with scrum half Gareth Brain scoring an unconverted try from a ruck on the Skipton line in injury time.

The half time team talk for the home side must have contained advice to try and knock Skipton out of their stride by intimidation.

When they weren't head hunting, the rest of the team adopted a fringing, offside position in an attempt to negate the free-flowing rugby which Skipton had used to such good effect in the first half.

On 15 minutes, Smithson seemed to have relieved the pressure with a good long kick into the wind, but a poor chase up by the visiting backs allowed Corinthians to run the ball back at them, creating the space for centre Phil Blong to score on the left, with Bradley again wide with the conversion attempt.

Shortly after, Skipton seemed as though they must score, with Mark Davidson driving towards the line, but he was penalised for a double movement and then McDuff had a 50 metres run before his legs gave way and he was tackled on the 22.

Darren Howson had a chance to knock over a penalty with five minutes to go as the referee finally got round to picking up the home team for offside - where their pack had lived throughout the second half - but the kick was just wide.

Ian Scrivin deserved the accolade as man of the match for a non-stop display of tackling, support and tidying up.