Driffield fielded almost the same side as the previous week’s team that travelled to Cleckheaton, except for Joe Robinson returning at scrum half and Adam Brankley at No. 8. On a bright afternoon, with the pitch in good condition in spite of all the recent rain, there was a stiff breeze down the pitch.
From the kick-off, Scarborough, playing with the wind, were immediately on the back foot after they initially put the ball into the corner. Driffield turned defence into attack and opened the scoring in the 10th minute. They put together a flowing move and scrum-half Joe Robinson scored an unconverted try for 5-0.
Ten minutes later, a handful of errors from Scarborough allowed outside centre Ben Dinsdale to collect the ball and break down the wing to score. Watts missed the difficult conversion, but Driffield now sat in a comfortable position at 10-0.
In the 31st minute, Driffield crossed the try line for their third unconverted try when winger Ben Blacker broke clear out wide to score. Once again, the blustery conditions and head wind made the conversion difficult and Watts missed it, making it 15-0.
On the stroke of half time, Driffield got the bonus point when an attempted flick-pass went astray, allowing Gary Stephenson to collect the loose ball and score under the posts. Watts was able to add the extras to leave Driffield leading 22-0 at half time.
Now playing with the wind at Driffield’s backs, the second half began in the same fashion. The Woldsmen applied even more pressure on the Scarborough defence until, in the 54th minute, after Scarborough’s scrum-half was yellow-carded for talking back to the referee, Driffield camped in the opposition twenty-two. The pressure eventually told when Joe Robinson bagged his second try, weaving through tackles to score in the corner. Watts converted a difficult kick to stretch his side’s lead to 29-0.
Shortly after, a Driffield player also found himself in the bin for a late tackle, and both sides were playing a man down. But this did not slow the Driffield attack and, on 64 minutes, Ryan Longville scythed through the defence to score near the sticks, allowing Watts to kick the conversion to make it 36–0.
Scarborough were not about to lie down and started to see a bit more possession. However, they struggled to break through Driffield’s defence and eventually the mistake came when the Scarborough centre knocked-on in the 69th minute. Ryan Longville took full advantage and scooped up the loose ball. He raced clear of a despairing defence to score under the posts, allowing an easy conversion by Watts to make it 43-0.
Scarborough continued to press in the final ten minutes, hoping to take something away from the game. Finally, in what was the last play of the game, Scarborough had something to celebrate when their winger found space out wide to score a well-taken consolation try, which was converted making the final score 43-7.
Scarborough will be disappointed with the score line having beaten Driffield 32-16 in the reverse fixture earlier in the season. Driffield will be justifiably pleased with their performance: the forwards were solid, the backs were clinical, and the defence was firm on the occasions it was tested. With Moortown also winning comfortably at West Hartlepool, Driffield remain in 4th place in the table, still in contention for a 2nd place finish.