MALTON & Norton slipped down the early North One East table after a second successive defeat, this time at home to Morpeth.

The Ryedale outfit took an early lead but the North Easterners hit back to lead 16-12 at the interval and went clear in the second half to win 36-12, a scoreline which would have been worse for Malt but for a few missed kicks.

Morpeth now sit at the summit, above York on points-difference, with the pair being the only two teams with maximum points after three games.

A Malton club spokesman said: "We struggled against a bigger pack, who were on average one and a half stone heavier.

"The pressure at set and loose play forced us into errors and also resulted in a higher penalty count than normal."

Malton, who last week saw Luke Raduva and Nick Rangiuira play their final games for the club, have also now seen Nick Daley depart, the centre having taken up a contract at Neena RUFC in County Tipperary to play as well as coach local children.

Coming in through the revolving door, though, were fly-half Shane Poole and centre Connor Page, and the duo made their debuts against Morpeth.

Poole enjoyed a decent start, setting up the position in the Morpeth 20-metre area for skipper Sam Triffitt to open the scoring on five minutes.

A few minutes later, though, Morpeth were off the mark when booting their first penalty of the afternoon.

The next five minutes was all Morpeth, too, Malton soaking up pressure from a well-drilled visiting pack before cracking, the number eight forward striding through from a lineout to cross and touch down.

There was a 10-minute delay on 25 minutes as an ambulance was called after a Morpeth player suffered a suspected broken leg.

When play resumed, Malton scored a try through Matthew Bowman, Paul Angus adding the extras to retake the lead at 12-8.

However, Morpeth responded with a penalty on 35 minutes followed by a try from their outside centre for a 16-12 interval lead.

The second half was virtually all Morpeth.

The visitors enjoyed 80 per cent of possession, with Malton visiting their opponents' half only twice in the 40 minutes.

With their pack in the ascendancy, a constant stream of ball was supplied to the lively visiting backs who scored four tries at regular intervals.

None of them was converted, though, meaning the final score was kinder to Malt than it might have been.

To compound Malt's misery, Bowman collected a yellow card for a late challenge on 78 minutes, leaving them to see out the game with 14 men.