York summoned up their best performance of the season so far to knock high flying Doncaster Phoenix out of the Yorkshire Shield at Clifton Park on Saturday.

The cold and wet conditions leading up to the game made most of us glad we weren't still playing but luckily the enthusiasm of Bass and Clegg's young team wasn't diminished in the slightest, as right from the kick off they took the game to their illustrious visitors. Fox, Bates and Freddy Potrykus drove the ball to the Donny 30m where a ruck infringement earned a penalty which George Davies calmly slotted. Back came Phoenix and a break out for the corner from 13 Fowler seemed try bound until Billy Cakaunitabua belied his 45 years to make the saving tackle. Marcus Britland on his first full appearance at no8 drove the ball forward from the lineout, Atkin and brother Josh sniped through and brought play right back to the Donny 20m.

The slippery ball was now creating problems for both sides, as York would lose possession, Donny would try to threaten but would concede knock ons, especially in the face of the York pressure defence. After 25 minutes they had only rarely ventured near the York 10m, as another attack faltered, the York pack drove up the field with a good sequence of rucks. As they reached half way Billy joined in, picked and drove straight through a yawning gap, neatly drawing the full back to send the supporting Dave Bates flying in at the corner, Davies narrowly missing a difficult conversion, 8-0.

Both hookers had trouble throwing in straight and a series of lineouts were penalised as the match understandably lost some momentum. From one such scrum on the York 20m, fly half Josh Britland drilled a ball to the Donny 40m which the defender fumbled, Nixon, Billy and Bradshaw hacked on and enveloped the full back as he gathered near the line. From the ruck Eddie Bradshaw ripped the ball and scored York's second try in the corner with again the conversion just wide, 13-0.

Stung into action, Donny drove well from a lineout from which impressive no7 ,Holland, sprinted down the blind only for Alex Nixon to take his turn at the heroic tackle table from which York cleared the line. Inspired by this, the York defence pressured the Phoenix backs into fumbles, from the turn overs the impressive Marcus Britland and Freddy Potrykus made good yards upfield to earn a penalty, which Davies pushed wide but was fumbled by the defender giving a York scrum on the 5m. This in turn yielded a penalty which was kicked for the corner. Pressure on replacement hooker Fletcher but the throw was accurate, although the move was to breakdown midfield and the whistle blown for halftime.

During the break the rain returned and the breeze increased, so as York turned round facing the elements, seasoned spectators doubted as to whether they could maintain the lead, especially when York conceded a knock on straight from the kick off. Worries were alleviated when scrum half Atkin pressured his opposite number into fumbling the ball earning a relieving scrum.

Conditions dictated a stalemate as both defences held strong to force errors but this was broken by Holland again, making a good break for the line only to be overhauled by Josh Britland just short of the whitewash. From the ruck Donny knocked on and pressure was relieved. Again the visitors came back and earned a penalty on the York 20m for offside, the 3 points was declined and the kick for the corner was miscued and sailed over the dead ball line. The miscreant, Storey, made amends with a powerful break for the line moments later only to be held just short and be penalised for holding on.

With 20 minutes left the props were rotated again and new combination Potrykus and Dan Coe, made an impact on the strong Donny scrum, driving them backwards for the first time in the game. Matty Hargreaves replaced Atkin for his seasonal debut and belied his diminutive size by crashing down one of the large back rowers on a surge from the back of a scrum. The pressure from the well drilled visitors began to tell somewhat and York were rightly penalised for a number of offsides. A rare, well structured backs move from Phoenix briefly threatened but again under pressure the ball was fumbled for play to stay largely around the home 20m. Pressure was relieved when Marcus Britland secured a tremendous turn over, fed out to a supporting back to drill the ball into the Phoenix 20m, from here the ball was recycled until in their first visit of the half the visitors backs strayed off side to earn a well taken penalty from Davies, 16-0.

As the minutes ebbed away, Donny to their credit, hammered away in the York 10m to be eventually rewarded with captain Kettle crashing over on the far side, 16-5. The final phase of play was played out in the Doncaster 20m with referee Mr Shields eventually blowing time on an absorbing game.

The squad and coaches should be rightly proud of the effort, performance and spirit of this win and will have enjoyed their weekend all the more for it. Given the conditions it was always going to be a forward dominated game and all 10 players involved in the pack gave their all. The backs were tremendous in defence and never really looked like being breached. Lots of stand out performances, the return of captain Chris Fox was no doubt instrumental and his partnership with Dave Bates in the second row improves every game. I thought James Hartley held his own well in the unaccustomed but key tighthead position and he will have learnt a lot in this encounter. Man of the match however was Marcus Britland who put in a great display at no8 and would have been under some pressure to do so as this was his season's debut, after not quite living up to his promise last season.

Full credit to Doncaster Phoenix for their part in a well spirited game, they were missing some key players but insisted that most of their team had adequate first team experience. They were a pleasure to talk to after the game and emphasised that their club is a separate entity to Doncaster Knights, which we should respect.

We face them next week in the league and I expect them to be back even stronger, so at Tuesday night training this victory will be forgotten and preparation will begin for next week !