Normanton Knights pick up win in National Conference opener while Eastmoor Dragons make it two wins in a row

Aaron Butterfield scored a hat-trick as Normanton started their season with a victory.

Normanton were playing in their first league game of 2019 while Eastmoor Dragons were looking for their second-straight win after their campaign kicked off on February 23.

The Knights claimed a 46-4 win over Hull-based Skirlaugh while Eastmoor secured a narrow 14-12 win over Hesingham.

Skirlaugh opened the scoring on Saturday afternoon through Ryan Hilton but Normanton responded well to lead 14-4 at the interval.

Ady Mulcahy converted one try from three attempts in Eastmoor's win at Hesingham.

James Senkiw dotted down while Aaron Butterfield scored twice to give the Knights a lead which they built on in the second period.

Skirlaugh were reduced to 12 men when Carl Puckering was sin-binned and they went down to 11 players three minutes later as Alex Gilbey was dismissed.

Normanton took full advantage of the extra space to sail into a comfortable lead.

Alex Parker added a four pointer before Butterfield completed his hat-trick.

Puckering returned to the fray but it made little difference as Normanton continued to assert their dominance on proceedings.

Shaun Smith crossed while Connor Taylor bagged a brace.

Dave Evans completed the scoring to send the Knights top of the table on points' difference.

Meanwhile, Eastmoor were never behind at Hesingham as they made it two wins from two.

Tries from Jacob McDermott, Caine McVittie and a 90-metre score from Jacob Crossland, along with one conversion from Ady Mulcahy, put 14 points on the board for the Dragons.

Shane Williams and Phil Flavell bagged the tries for the home side.