Hat-trick of wins has Malton & Norton on the rise (From Gazette & Herald)

Hat-trick of wins has Malton & Norton on the rise

10:11am Monday 29th October 2012 in Sport

A HAT-TRICK of wins have hoisted Malton & Norton RUFC out of the North One East danger zone.

The Ryedale side were struggling near the foot of the table after losing five of their opening six games, but Saturday’s 40-32 home win over Northern moved them up to eighth.

Malton opened the scoring with a long-range Ali Heard penalty after two minutes when Northern were penalised for obstruction.

Northern responded with a converted try but Malt scrum-half and man of the match Dan Cattle darted over and Heard converted.

On 20 minutes, Northern edged ahead with a try and then Malt lost prop Adam Turnbull and hooker Alex Whittaker to the sin-bin.

Northern’s lead became 17-10 with another try but Malt fought back with a penalty from Heard and then a try by wing Tom Newitt, which Heard converted.

Northern led 22-20 at half-time, capitalising on their numerical advantage to get a push over try.

After the break, Sam Triffitt charged down a clearance and sent Heard over in the corner, but a Northern penalty made it 25-25.

Then Malton came to life and from a scrum 40 metres out Cattle broke blind to race home.

Second row Sean Emms was next to cross, charging down a kick before galloping to the line.

Malt played the last ten minutes with 14 men when Newitt suffered a knee injury after all substitutes had been used, but they managed to score through Triffitt.

Northern regained possession from the restart and bagged their fifth try of the game, with the conversion rounding off the scoring.

Meanwhile, Pocklington got a vital 14-10 North One East victory at home to Keighley.

Pock played some of their best rugby of the season, but all their top work was in midfield and errors undermined their play when they got within sight of the Keighley line.

On the hour mark Pock led 14-0 and looked in control, but Keighley upped their efforts to kick a penalty and claim an 80-yard converted breakaway try.

Earlier, Pock had taken a second-minute lead through a Nick Bennett penalty.

Then a raid down Bennett’s left flank ended with the ball being slipped back inside where right wing Billy Hardy touched down on the half hour.

Further Bennett penalties either side of the interval took Pocklington clear before Keighley’s late fight back.