Dinnington go top of Yorkshire One table

YORKSHIRE ONE
Dinnington Rugby Club (red shirts) v BridlingtonDinnington Rugby Club (red shirts) v Bridlington
Dinnington Rugby Club (red shirts) v Bridlington

Saturday was a r foed letter day for Dinnington, as they moved to the top of Yorkshire Division One on points difference, courtesy of this bonus point victory and Ilkley’s nil-nil draw at Selby.

Dinnington now have a slight advantage as they have to play both Ilkley, second, and Doncaster Phoenix, third, at home, in the coming weeks.

In very wet conditions, Dinnington fell behind to an early try as a slip and spillage of the ball allowed Scarborough to hack through and win the chase for the ball.

However, they replied straight away as Will Marshall took a quick penalty, following a line out in the visitors’ twenty-two, and drove through to score.

Jonny West converted to level the scores.

This all happened in the first five minutes of the game and it was at this point that the heavens opened with a mixture of rain, hail, thunder and lightning.

Not surprisingly, the handling errors increased and the game became a forwards contest.

Thirteen minutes into the game Will Marshall broke off the back of a scrum and drove over for his second try.

West converted.

Scarborough rallied and had Dinnington defending on their own line for a spell but the home defence held firm and cleared the danger.

From then on all the play was in the Scarborough half.

Dinnington came close to scoring when a driving maul was halted by them conceding a penalty but they did not make the same mistake on 30 minutes and Ryan Donnelly scored.

Three minutes later there was relief all-round as the rain stopped and the wind dropped.

Two minutes before half-time, Dinnington set up a catch and drive but it came down just short of the line.

However, as the ball popped out, West reacted the quickest to touch down and put Dinnington 24-7 ahead at the break.

Scarborough’s restart went dead as they misjudged the wind and Dinnington brought play back for a scrum.

They set up an attack and a good box kick gave the visitors a lineout close to their own line.

Dinnington stole the ball and, after being stopped twice as they drove for the line, the ball was passed out to John Dudley, arriving at pace, and he took four defenders with him as he went over the line.

This proved to be the telling score as Dinnington then got on top and constantly pressured the Scarborough defence.

Conditions deteriorated and players were sliding about which made any constructive rugby difficult.

Fifteen minutes into the half, Dinnington turned the ball over at a Scarborough scrum, set up a maul and drove John Marshall over for a try.

A lot more pressure from Dinnington failed to bring any more points, and it was the team from Scarborough with a late rally who almost scored again, but solid defence kept them out.

With the last play of the game, Dinnington drove over the Scarborough line and thought they had scored again; but the referee thought not.

The Dinnington men will stay top for at least two weeks as the next league games are not until Saturday 8th February when they travel to North Ribblesdale.