Skipton 43, Halifax Vandals 10

SKIPTON returned to winning ways as they fielded a team containing three sets of brothers: Ben and George Hall, Stuart and Shaun Barraclough and Luke and Jon Currie.

A moderate breeze greeted the teams on a sunny autumn afternoon at Sandylands for the Yorkshire Division Four encounter.

Skipton were playing against the breeze in the first half but were soon in the ascendency, with strong tackling from Charlie Brown at wing forward snuffing out some early Vandals offensives.

A scrum against the head, which was to become a feature of the game, led to a try for Jon Currie which Luke Stockton, in the unaccustomed role of full back, converted easily.

An infringement at the scrum gave Vandals a penalty within kickable range but this was not converted.

Owen Higson, who has been showing great promise on the wing of late, unfortunately picked up an ankle injury and had to retire.

He was replaced by George Hall, who went on to impress with one of the most robust wing performances seen at Skipton for some time.

A chance for Skipton to increase their lead then went begging when a dropped pass denied the home side a certain try from ten yards out.

This was made up for a few minutes later with a further try from Currie, again converted by the reliable boot of Stockton.

Vandals were awarded a penalty just before half-time which they converted for the sides to turn round at 14-3.

The second half started well for Skipton, with an unconverted try by prop forward Chris Wright following a well worked move by both forwards and backs.

Another scrum against the head launched the Skipton back line, with some excellent work on the wing by George Hall keeping the ball in play but poor handling again denied them further points.

Yet another scrum against the head put Shaun Barraclough over for Skipton to stretch their lead and gain the additional league point. Stockton converted to give Skipton a 26-3 advantage.

From the restart, text book loose-forward work by Brown kept the ball in play and led to an unconverted try by Callum Patrick.

More open football resulted in a try from Stockton, having his game of the season so far at full back. His own conversion attempt hit the post and Skipton now led 36-3.

A bullocking run from crowd favourite Harry Maltby looked certain to be a solo try but his excitement resulted in a wayward pass and the ball went to ground.

One further try from centre Liam Jordan, who had given a solid performance all afternoon, was converted by Stockton to stretch the home side's lead to 43-3. A consolation try for Vandals came right on full time.

Honours for Skipton man of the match were shared by Stockton for an outstanding performance at full back and Brown for his tireless and game-changing efforts.