On a cool dry day, Brodleians kicked off down the slope and into the stiff breeze running straight up the park. In the early exchanges Driffield started to grind their way forward and much of the play took place in the Brods half. The Woodhead boys defended well and drove back the visitors assaults until they gave away a penalty, allowing Brods to clear the lines. The kick into the wind was excellent, and Driffield found themselves back at their own 22. Defence had been turned into attack, and Brods won the lineout to set up an excellent driving maul that took them nearly 20 metres to the Driffield line and as the visitors collapsed the advancing maul the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try on the twelve-minute mark, plus a yellow card for Driff skipper Mewburn . With a man down, Driffield had their work cut out and applied themselves to the task, defending well against further Brodleian attacks . A penalty was awarded and Driff scrum half Robinson, took it quickly to set off. It looked like he had caught the defence napping but the cover tackle came in and the attack was snuffed out. Driff successfully kept play in the Brodleians half and, with Mewburn back on, mounted their own attack . After sustained pressure Cullen found a crack in the defence and just made it through to the line to touch down near the sticks, giving Watts an easy conversion to level the scores. Brods took the ball from the restart and made steady progress down the park, meeting strong defence from Driffield. Eventually they were awarded a lineout and, like the previous occasion, set up the rolling maul that is a powerful weapon in their armoury. This time they made it through to the line and scored just before the half-hour, but too wide out for the conversion.

From the restart Driff took the game to the Hipperholme boys . With some strong running, the ball was worked to the left and Mewburn broke the line but was held up by the Brods defenders. From the drop-out, the ball was worked to Dinsdale who was again stopped just short. The ball was recycled quickly and popped to Johnson on the charge and his size and power took him through the remaining defence to score and with the conversion the defenders held a two-point lead. Just before half time and the game very much in the balance Driff scored a crucial try with Robinson breaking from just inside his 22,he weaved through several attempted tackles. He had support on his shoulder and shipped the ball to Sowersby, followed by a quick pass to Soanes who raced in for the try under the sticks, converted by Watts. With the half-time whistle imminent, Brodleians attacked the left side of the pitch and made it deep into Driffield territory. But the visitor’s defence, which was outstanding all day, repelled the series of attacks and the whistle blew with Driffield 21 – 12 up and the slope in their favour for the second half.

From the KO Driffield went straight onto the attack to win the ball back from the kick-off. With solid work by the forwards, the ball was moved through the backs until it reached Blacker on the left wing, looking for the bonus point fourth try. The slippery running winger escaped the defenders to touch down under the sticks to make a straightforward conversion. Play ebbed and flowed between the two 22 metre lines with both sides attacking but meeting strong defence. Several promising attacks by both sides were either stopped by knock-ons or snuffed out by great tackling.

As the game moved into the final quarter Georgiou kicked deep into the Driffield half. Blacker fielded it and returned the ball with some strong running Robinson was in support and the ball was recycled for Mewburn to finish with a try well to the right .

Driffield continued to press a tiring Brods defence and from a clearance kick Blacker was again on a hand to run it back into the Brodleians’ half. He found Dinsdale, who had looped round from the far wing to provide support. Robinson was then on hand and he finished scoring with three minutes left on the clock, for Watts to add the conversion

The large crowd enjoyed a good game in which Brods supporters thought that the visitors had provided the best all round performance faced this season .

Next week the Woodhead boys travel to Durham City