YORK RI RUFC claimed the bragging rights in their derby clash with Nestle Rowntree, beating their cross-town rivals 24-0.

Two tries from Jonny Evans and one apiece from Lewis Starbuck and Chris Piercy extended early Yorkshire Four South East leaders RI's perfect start to term to three wins from three.

Trees are 10 points behind in fourth but have played one game fewer.

Visitors Rowntree kicked off with the wind behind them and immediately established field position, applying good pressure on the RI defence.

Despite a good quarter of an hour of pressure, Trees struggled to get close to the try line and, after conceding a penalty, RI escaped upfield to open the scoring. The hosts kicked to the corner and powered over from a catch and drive, with number eight Starbuck touching down for an unconverted try.

This allowed RI to settle into the game and the hosts started to press down the right half of the field. The pressure - along with a Trees sin-binning - eventually told and stand-in centre Evans went over under the posts, with the conversion added by Baptiste Briu for a 12-0 lead.

The rest of the half was fairly evenly-matched, with defences coming out on top.

Playing up the slope in the second period, Trees battled well but could not convert the pressure into points.

Conversely, RI were able to make the most of the wind advantage and occupy the visitors' half for a good period. Though again the defence was stubborn initially, the constant pressure told with Evans going over for his second, again converted by Briu to extend the lead to 19-0.

Trees then found another gear and, with it, the occasional foray into the RI 22-metre area, but resilient defence kept them at bay.

The home side were now moving the ball around a little more, going in search of the bonus point score, but a combination of good defence and a lack of control at times in attack frustrated the home side for much of the remainder of the half.

However, with full time approaching and Trees suffering another sin-binning, a clearance kick from the visitors was moved to winger Chris Piercy, who ran around the chasing defence. He slipped the ball inside to centre Joe Field, who returned the ball to Piercy to go over for the last score of the game. The conversion was missed.

RI are back on their travels at the weekend for a top-of-the-table clash at Mosborough, who have won their opening two matches and sit six points behind RI. Their most recent win was a crushing 72-6 victory over Sheffield Oaks.

Nestle Rowntree host second-bottom Hessle, who - like Trees - have won one and drawn one, though sit a bonus point behind the York-based outfit. Hessle squeaked past Stockbridge 10-9 on Saturday.