Wirral 48, Pocklington 3

IN the North Premier league, Wirral played newly-promoted Pocklington at the Memorial Ground in their first ever meeting.

Captain Craig Harvey gave Wirral a 10-0 lead, which was extended to 17-0 when league debutant Chris Crowley ran in from 20m to give the home side a 17-0 lead at half-time.

Up to half-time, Pocklington had totally dominated the scrum but Wirral, with a change of personnel at half time, changed this in the second half.

Early in the second half, Pocklington troubled the scoreboard with a well taken penalty by Jonty Peters.

The third try came when a clearance kick was charged down by Tom Parry and Keith Mahon was on hand to pick up and dive over the line.

On the hour mark, Wirral achieved their try bonus point when Mark Williams rounded off a 75m move where the ball passed through a number of players' hands.

The conversion extended Wirral's lead to 29-3.

In the final 10 minutes, Wirral looked to score on every occasion with further tries from Craig Harvey, Keith Mahon and the final try by 19year-old Matt Dalton on his debut in the second row.

Two of these were converted by Craig, who had a match haul of 23 points.

This first game of the season sets Wirral up for next week’s game at Preston Grasshoppers.