Blaydon join Mowden in tight relegation scrap

Although four tries gave Blaydon a bonus point which kept them ahead of the pack in their 36-24 home defeat by Cleckheaton, they play the top two in the next fortnight.

They were again without skipper Dave Guthrie, who was left wishing he had gone on for the last half hour as a 24-10 lead disappeared.

With his replacement David Falconer doing well as Blaydon ruled the line-out there seemed no problem as Blaydon dominated the first half.

They should have led by much more than 17-10, but made amends eight minutes after the interval when they broke out of their own 22 with the ball going through seven pairs of hands before scrum half Nick Williams scored his second try.

The game changed when hooker Matt Hall was sin-binned for not rolling away at the tackle and Cleckheaton scored twice in his absence.

With player-coach John Bentley and former Leeds scrum half Scott Benton pulling the strings they never kicked for touch and produced some thrilling rugby.

Bentley ghosted off his wing to burst down the middle for their first try on one of the two occasions they escaped from their own territory in the first half.

Once the game changed Benton scored from a tap penalty, then Bentley ran from his own half for full back Edward Akroyd to score on his way to a tally of 16 points.

The first of two tries for former Rotherham forward John Dudley made it three tries in 11 minutes to level the scores and the game continued to run away from Blaydon.

Their first half efforts produced two tries for flanker Andy Wright, but they weren't helped by Dan Clappison twice hitting the woodwork.

Following the previous week's win at Blaydon, Mowden stepped on to the Kendal quagmire full of confidence but lost 32-7.

Flanker Jason Smithson again played well, as did winger Tom Lauriston and hooker Tasi Tuhana, while lock Luke Monument did well until being forced to retire just after half-time with a knee injury.

But overall it was a disappointing display as several tries were conceded through poor defence and one through two players leaving a desperate Kendal kick out of defence to each other.

The scoreline flattered Kendal as the persistent interference of a touch judge ensured that the penalty count was 22-5 against Mowden.

They dominated the first half with the wind behind them but trailed 10-0 at the interval. Kendal scored a converted try the first time they broke out of their own half after 25 minutes, then broke out again and added a penalty.

The rest of the game was scrappy and when Mowden did manage a spell of good rugby it ended with the high kick by Kendal, which Matt Howland and Michael Georgiou both went for, only to leave it to each other. The ball sat up kindly for a Kendal player to race in from halfway.

That was one of three second half tries as the score reached 32-0 before Lauriston and Peter Phelan launched an attack from behind their own line in the 79th minute.

Martin Shaw and Iain Dixon also handled before Lauriston featured again then Tuhana put a grubber kick through, which Smithson followed up to score, with Dixon converting.

Despite facing the wind, Tynedale led 14-10 at half-time at Rugby through two converted tries, one an excellent individual effort by full back Will Massey.

Ben Duncan also touched down, but two penalties after the interval put Rugby 16-14 ahead, only for debutant Matthew MacLoughin to score the decider for Tynedale.

Middlesbrough slipped back to next to the bottom when they lost 25-12 at home to Chester after they were defensively disrupted by injuries.

The first came after 25 minutes when full back Simon Moore was taken to hospital with a nasty facial wound, resulting in Fijian Phillip Iranatora going on for his debut on the wing with Andy Micklewright switching to full back.

After trailing 8-0 at the break Boro were on top with the wind behind them, with the forwards driving well, and had the gap down to 8-7 when centre Neil Baggett made a superb break and Dave Richardson scored and converted.

Richardson was then injured, Iranatora went to fly half with skipper Gavin Fingland having to come out of the back row to play in the reshuffled backs.

Chester immediately scored a converted try, but good driving and a solid scrum by Boro allowed No 8 Richard McRae to keep them in the game at 15-12 until Chester's backs scored two more tries in the last ten minutes.

For the second time this season Stockton's Alan Brown tormented his former club West Hartlepool as the visitors won 18-8 to stay clear of trouble in North Two East.

Brown showed his experience as he got away with whatever he could, while dropped passes often prevented a disappointing West side from gaining any momentum.

Playing downwind, fly half Jeremy Good kicked a penalty after five minutes then kept West pinned back. Following a penalty to touch, thrower-in Danny Muirhead scored after linking with Mark Skirving, then a similar move produced a try for Skirving. A conversion by Good made it 15-0 at half-time and good defence kept West out until the 70th minute, when David Tighe kicked a penalty.

West's Andy Hare ran round behind the posts, only to be brought back for a foot in touch, and it was not until the dying seconds that prop Mark Cholmondeley scored from close range.

The win took Stockton a point ahead of Redcar, who are fourth bottom after losing 45-20 at Driffield. The bottom two both won with Horden hinting at a revival with a resounding 45-20 home victory against Malton and Norton.

Morpeth remain bottom, despite beating Hartlepool Rovers 21-7. Rovers scored a converted try through Simon Hall just before half-time to reduce the gap to 10-7.

Leaders Westoe won 17-7 at Sandal after Dutch winger Jay Jay Boske danced through in the fourth minute to score the first of his two tries. Fellow winger Mark Olugbode also touched down to build a 17-0 interval lead.

Northallerton won their Yorkshire Three match at Hemsworth 24-5 with lock Jeff Foster scoring two tries, the others coming from Steve Robinson and Ed Pratt.