Perfect conditions greeted visitors West Hartlepool on Saturday afternoon. Perennial challengers at the top of the table, West have struggled this year lying in 12th place at the start of the day and coming off the back of a defeat at home to Bridlington.
With a strong wind at their backs, Driffield made a fast start racing into a 14-0 lead. West kicked off, but it failed to go 10 yards. From the midfield scrum, Driffield worked their way into the opposition 22 and following a quick tap penalty, Zavatti crashed over for Dearing to convert. The home side doubled the lead when Robinson added his first and again Dearing added the extras.
West came battling back and started to exert some pressure on the home side. Driffield had a chance to clear their lines from a lineout close to their line, but the ball was turned over and dropped on by West to register their first points.
Not to be outdone, Driffield added to their tally following a break through the middle by Dearing. He offloaded to Stephenson who was well tackled from behind. Driffield won a penalty at the breakdown which Dearing converted. 17-5.
Straight from the kick-off Driffield added another 7 points with an excellent move. Zavatti took the restart and burst through several tackles before offloading to Lawrence. He worked the ball back to Zavatti who was brought down, but he offloaded to Piercy who touched down. Dearing again converting.
The Woldsmen wrapped up the bonus point before half-time with a move off the back of the scrum leading to Robinson touching down in the corner, this time unconverted. West were still threatening, but when the ball was turned over Furbank was using the wind well, pushing the visitors back into their own half. The last points of the half came after Lawrence made yards down the blind-side, before the ball was recycled to Burns who crossed in the corner. Half time 34-5.
Driffield started the second half as they did the first with a try from their first attack. Driffield turned over a West line-out and kept the ball tight for Cooper to score. That started a see-saw period with both sides exchanging tries. After Zavatti was sent to the sin bin, West kicked to the corner and rumbled over for their second try of the afternoon. Driffield responded by moving the ball wide to Robinson who slipped the ball inside to Furbank to add his first. Hartlepool hit back, before Burns claimed his second.
Both sides added one more score; Hartlepool reacting quickest to a bouncing ball before Driffield had the last word, showing ambition to run the ball from deep. Watts broke from his own half and drew the defence before slipping the ball to Furbank to cruise over from forty yards. Final score 58-24.
From Driffield’s perspective this was an important win, which will give the team momentum into a tricky few weeks. A difficult trip to Huddersfield next week before local rivals Malton visit twice in a fortnight, once in the League followed by a Yorkshire Cup game.