Beautiful weather greeted the last home game of the season for the Woldsmen, with Pocklington making the short trip. The stakes were high for Driffield as they knew one win from the last two games would be enough to secure a top-three spot and with it a place in the newly-expanded national leagues.
It was Pocklington who made the fastest start though, crossing within three minutes for an unconverted try.
Jenkinson responded shortly afterwards, and a Watts conversion gave Driffield a two point advantage.
Driffield had a lot of possession in the middle part of the half, but good Pock defence limited them to two penalties extending the lead to 13-5. Dinsdale had been prominent in the attacks leading up to these, with his quick feet finding space and getting in behind the opposition defence. Six points didn’t feel like a great return for the possession the home side had had, and Pocklington closed the gap to three with a well-taken try out wide, again unconverted.
Robinson was challenging the defence with quick taps from penalties, and he made it deep into Pock territory before being dragged down and conceding a penalty. A kick to touch gave the visitors a lineout on the 22, but it was lost and the ball made its way to Sowersby in midfield. He burst through a tackle a touched down under the posts. Watts again converted to make it 20-10.
Pock came straight back and scored a try of their own just before half time. A strong break from their outstanding second row took them deep into Driffield territory, and they recycled the ball and touched down in the corner. A difficult conversion was added to leave the score 20-17 at half time.
Driffield made a poor start to the second half losing Johnson to a yellow card, and the resulting penalty led to an attempt to level the score, but it was pulled wide.
Driffield were tackling ferociously against a heavier pack, with Cullen and Jenkinson taking particularly heavy hits. Pocklington were disrupting the home side’s possession with strong rucking, and they caught Driffield in possession close to their own line and won a penalty which they converted to level the scores.
Watts had a chance to hit back straight away with a penalty, but he pushed it wide.
It was now Pocklington’s turn to keep possession for an extended period of time deep in the Woldsmens half. Time and again they attacked the line, but Driffield’s defence held firm eventually winning a penalty and enabling them to clear their lines. That felt like a turning point, and Driffield went back on the attack.
It was fitting that President’s son Dinsdale scored the winning try. Picking up a ball just inside his own half, he burst through an attempted tackle and accelerated away from the cover before turning the full back inside out and scoring a fantastic try. A missed conversion left Driffield’s nerves jangling, more so when they turned down a kickable penalty in front of the posts, but they held on to claim the victory by five points.