It is a warm welcome to Moortown RUFC this Saturday, with our 1st and 2nd XVs both facing them.  Our 3rd XV travels to Hullensians 2nds, but the planned 4th XV fixture is cancelled as Market Rasen could not raise a team to travel.  Our Ladies XV welcome Hull Ionians Ladies on Sunday.

Moortown haven’t visited Kelleythorpe since the leagues were introduced way back. Moortown were playing in Yorkshire 2 three seasons ago, and won Yorkshire 2 in 2016/17 with an unbeaten record.  This was followed by two seasons in Yorkshire 1, winning the league in the second season  losing 3 games on the way.  They have made a strong start to life in North One East and are in 5th position, 4 points behind us.  They have won 7, drawn once and lost 3.  Their losses have all come away from home : at York, Scarborough and Bradford.  The draw came at home to Cleckheaton.  They won by just 1 point at Kendal, won at Pocklington 17 – 26 and beat YMCA 37 – 43.  Last time out, they beat Durham City 22-10 at home.  It will be a tough game.

Driffield are looking to make it three on the bounce following their wins against Percy Park and last time out at YMCA – a good win 2 weeks ago.  YMCA have some difficulties at the moment, and said that Driffield had still turned up with the right mindset, as YMCA are still a decent side.  Driffield put out a dominant performance, taking the lead early and never really giving YMCA a look-in.

A few guys are coming back into form after injuries and unavailability : Blenkinsop and Joe Robinson both return on the bench this weekend.  Maling starts with Robson not available.  Other than that it is the same team that started at Huddersfield.

1 – Maling, 2 – Brumfield, 3 – Furbank, H

4 – Dinsdale,J  5 – Cullen

6 – Sowersby, 7 – Turner, 8 – Brankley

9 – Watts, 10 – Furbank, S

12 – Kelly, 13 – Dinsdale, B

11 – Davies, 14 – Blacker, 15 – Longville

16 – Blenkinsop, 17 – Jenkinson, 18 – Robinson.

In the league, Pock’s win at Scarborough last time out has dropped Scarborough three places places in the league. Morley played their re-arranged game against Bradford last weekend, and won 23 – 20.  So they now sit top of the pile, followed by York, us and Scarborough.  Moortown sit 5th with Cleck 6th : it is still very close with 6 points covering the top 6 teams.

This weekend, Morley host YMCA, Cleck travel to Bradford, Durham host West Hartlepool, Percy Park travel to Pocklington, Kendal host York, Malton host Scarborough.

Our 2nds also play Moortown in their Yorkshire Premiership : both sides looking to get into the top 6 for when the league splits after Christmas. Driffield suffered a last-minute defeat to Doncaster Phoneix last weekend, but are still in the hunt for the top 6.

Good luck to all.