YORK RUFC's lead at the top of North One East has been cut to six points following a 37-23 defeat at second-placed Cleckheaton.

Injuries against Bradford & Bingley ruled out scrum-half Toby Atkin, fly-half Declan Cusack and centre Will Fordy.

Liam Hessay moved from full-back to fly-half, Jonny Frank came in at centre, Joel Bradley made his first 1st XV start at scrum-half and George Davies came in on the wing with Ben Dyson-Dent at full-back.

York started well with a strong wind at their backs. The forwards were carrying well against a good Cleckheaton defence but eventually space was created wide on the right wing for Davies to finish in the corner but the conversion was missed.

The visitors continued to control possession and it was not long before Cleckheaton were penalised at the breakdown 35 metres out. Hessay slotted the penalty.

Cleckheaton now started to enjoy some possession, working the ball through their powerful pack. York in turn were starting to make handling errors against some tough tackling. From a line-out, Cleckheaton set up a driving maul and Carley scored with Breakwell adding the conversion.

Hosts Cleck quickly added to their tally - York lost the ball in midfield and a well-judged cross-field kick from Breakwell found Hayward in space. He outpaced the York defence to score under the posts.

Cleckheaton soon capitalised on another York handling error in midfield with Marsden scoring a good try under the posts. This was followed by the bonus point score just before half-time with Breakwell converting both.

The second half started in similar fashion with Breakwell using the wind at his back to add a drop goal.

York, to their credit, regrouped and started to produce some play which replicated what they had become used to in recent weeks.

The bench was introduced and some powerful carries started to force penalties in York’s favour. With the penalties kicked to the corner, York’s lineout started to work and Joe Maud scored two tries in quick succession. Hessay was struggling to convert from out wide into the wind and both conversions were missed. A fourth bonus point try followed with a fine one-handed finish by Rob Hodges in the corner following an excellent pass from Bradley.

The excellent Breakwell added two further penalties for Cleck.

Next week York entertain Scarborough, which will be another testing game.

A superb second-half performance saw Malton & Norton ease past Driffield 28-7 at the Gannock.

Malton are seventh-placed in North One East after their first win over high-fliers Driffield since 2016.

On Saturday, Malt travel to fifth-placed Morley.

The first penalty of the game was awarded to Driffield with Malton not releasing the man after the tackle on eight minutes. Driffield took advantage and set up position for a seven-pointer scored by their number 13 on 11 minutes.

It took until the cusp of half-time for Malt to get back in the game. In midfield, heavy-duty tackling by Jacob Stephenson kept Driffield at bay and patience was rewarded following Driffield's number four taking a team yellow on the fourth consecutive penalty on 37 minutes. Four minutes later, after several scrums, the reward came with a trademark close-range try for Rob Featherstone, converted by James Bulmer.

On 44 minutes Driffield wheeled their own put-in and Paul Angus cleverly stole the ball and passed to Bowman, who in turn fed Bulmer to score and covert his own try.

Eleven minutes later following intense pressure and with Driffield on the ropes, Featherstone crashed over for his brace, again converted.

With the Malton section of the crowd in good voice, on 72 minutes a break by Hobbs was fed to Bulmer whose controlled overhead pass to Will Bell was dotted down for another seven-pointer to close the scoring for the day.

Pocklington enjoyed a 32-27 try bonus point win over Morley.

David Davison notched Pock's first try with Christian Pollock converting but Morley showed how dangerous they could be on the counter-attack and levelled before going ahead.

The end to end action continued as, two minutes later, Pock made it 12-12 with a catch-and-drive surge, finished by hooker James Thornton.

Full-back Harry Jackson raced over for Pock and Pollock kicked a penalty to leave Pock well-placed at 22-12 at the break.

Morley battled back to lead 24-22 after the break and traded penalty scores with the hosts before Josh Papa got the winning converted try with a minute to go.

Pock visit Kendal on Saturday.

Sixth-placed in Yorkshire One, Selby beat Keighley 32-17. On Saturday, the Swans visit Goole.

York RI thumped Halifax 26-3 in Yorkshire Four Premier. Adam Osguthorpe, Luke Fakes, Dan Lee and Andy Brentnall made the scoresheet, with centre Lee converting three of the four tries.

At the weekend, RI visit Leeds Modernians.

In Yorkshire Four Shield, Nestle Rowntree lost 31-23 at Leeds Medics & Dentists. On Saturday, Trees host Thirsk.