Driffield 1st XV make the short journey across the Wolds to face Pocklington’s 1st XV. Our 2nd XV were supposed to host Pocklington 2nds, but they could not raise a team, so they now travel to Moortown.
Sunday sees a full house of mini / juniors in the morning, followed by Driffield Ladies V York Ladies at 2pm.
Pocklington returned to North 0ne East this season following a tough season in North Premier : they ended the season bottom of the league, with 3 wins and a draw to their name. I think this shows the difference in strength between the two leagues, as Pocklington ended the orevious season as runaway champions, 12 points ahead of Penrith in 2nd and 15 ahead of West Hartlepool in 3rd.
Our last meeting was back in December 2016 at Pocklington. This turned out to be a bad day for Driffield, Pock won 38 – 0. Driffield didn’t look like scoring a point, and the Driffield supporters made the short trip home wondering what had just happened. in the reverse fixture earlier in the season (the 2nd weekend of fixtures again) Driffield won 41 – 29.
We have played each other 10 times in league action since 2011/12 season in Yorkshire 1. Currently 5 wins each, with home advantage leading the way, both winning 4 times at home and the visiting team winning only once.
Pocklington started their North One East campaign last weekend when they welcomed Bridlington. Pocklington took the spoils in a tight match finishing 27-26. Match report at: http://pocklingtonrufc.rfu.club/match/689046/narrow-win-to-open-league-campaign/
Some interesting results around the league, which might have raised a few eyebrows. Newcomers Scarborough beat Bradford & Bingley 53 – 33 at Bradford ; Malton put 56 points past Cleckheaton and Morpeth travelled to Morley and came away with a 35 – 22 victory. West Leeds won away at Consett 36 – 34, Percy Park beat Huddersfield 29 – 24. Finally we lost to York 23-22.
Last week’s game saw York just beat us by the point, a last minute try and conversion from Driffield narrowing the finishing scoreline. I’m told York deserved their win, but Driffield should be confident when we get back to full squad strength we will be looking good. Match report here: https://driffieldrufc.com/2018/09/04/driffield-22-23-york-01-09-2018-match-report/
Driffield are still missing a few through injury and unavailability : Robinson (ribs), B Dinsdale (concussion), B Blacker (concussion), Cullen and Si Rowbottom. J Dinsdale and M Blenkinsop are both unavailable. A couple of changes in the Driffield line-up : P Dervey returns to action, starting in place of Blenkinsop, Zavatti starts with Waterhouse on the bench. Beachell swaps with Turner at no.8.
Driffield 1st XV v Pocklington 1st XV, North One East, Saturday 07/09/2018 KO 3pm (At Pocklington)
1 Dervey, 2 Brumfield, 3 Zavatti
4 Borman, 5 Warcup
6 Mewburn G, 7 Mewburn R (c), 8 Beachell
9 Watts, 10 Furbank
12 Brankley, 13 Stephenson
11 Murray RB, 14 Lawrence, 15 Piercy
16 Murray RY
17 Turner
18 Waterhouse
2nd team now travel to Moortown following Pocklington being unable to raise a second team at this moment. 2nds had a great away win at York last weekend. I believe they had been 20+ points behind at half time – a spirited fight back in the 2nd half led by Col Lucas saw them win by 2 points.
The Ladies face York this Sunday at 2pm, at Kelleythorpe. They too had a good win last Saturday, beating Scunthorpe easily.
James Dinsdale is running the Great North Run on Sunday, supporting the Mental Health Foundation. If you would like to sponsor him the link is: https://UK.virginmoneygiving.com/jamesandkathryn
Good Luck to everyone playing.