Pocklington RUFC lose Yorkshire Shield thriller at Wensleydale​

It was a game that Pock lost, rather than Wensleydale won, writes Phil Gilbank.

After the long trip to Leyburn, where Wensleydale's picturesque ground stands in the shadow of Great Whernside mountain, Pocklington blasted out of the blocks, and could and should have been out of sight by the end of the first quarter.

They were ahead inside two minutes, going round the tail of a lineout to carve through in midfield, skipper Joe Holbrough surging to the line and stretching over, Christian Pollock converting.

Straight back on the offensive with Archie Wilcock to the fore, Pock failed to secure two lineouts in sight of the home line, and Wensleydale showed them how to do it by breaking to the other end for a catch and drive try.

It was still all Pocklington, fly-half Pollock switched direction from a scrum to race in from 35 yards then convert for a 14-5 lead.

But Pock missed more scoring opportunities – ignoring a couple of overlaps and messing up a quick tap at a penalty in front of the posts.

The first half dragged on for 47 minutes, and Pock paid for their profligacy as Wensleydale got out of jail to snatch another close-range try and be only four points down at the break.

Pock’s wrong options had kept Wensleydale in the game, but the tables turned as they could do nothing right on the resumption.

The third quarter saw Pocklington on the wrong end of a 10-1 penalty count, plus two forwards despatched to the sin-bin.

Pocklington’s 13 men battled bravely but they were finally outdone by a disputed try, with Wensleydale quickly adding another to lead 24-14.

A couple of decisions finally went Pock’s way, the introduction of young forwards Freddie Taylor and Seth Shirley added energy, and they went wide against a tiring defence for wing Reece Dixon to slide in, Pollock’s touchline conversion putting them just three behind.

In gathering gloom Pock launched a desperate attempt to snatch the spoils, but time ran out with them still adrift.