Bishop Auckland RFC, Sunderland 34, Bishop Auckland 10: Bishop Auckland's recent poor form resulted in an early exit from the Durham County RFU Challenge Trophy at the first round stage, writes Malcolm Pratt.

They had lost three of their previous four league matches and were well beaten at Sunderland although they did play well in various stages of the game.

Indeed, Bishops controlled much of the second half but made too many mistakes and were slow to gain advantages offered by the home side.

Their forwards held their own in the scrums and Dodds provided some excellent line-out balls but the centres persisted in running the ball back into the forwards when they would have been better served attacking the home backs.

It took Bishops almost half an hour to get into the game and by then they were two tries down. When they did begin to compete, they caused Sunderland all sorts of difficulties and it came as no surprise when Gallone broke from the base of the scrum and Bartle created an opening for winger Keay to touch down in the corner.

At 10-5 Bishops were back in the game but within 10 minutes, they were well and truly out of it. A mix-up at the base of the scrum let Sunderland kick to the Bishops line and score in the corner.

This was followed by some careless passing and the home side intercepted to score, giving them a rather flattering 22-5 halftime lead.

Worse was to follow and when the visitors failed to clear the kick-off to the second half, Sunderland forced a five-metre line-out from which they drove over for yet another gift try.

Bishops though retaliated and pressurised the home defence but a loss of concentration when Sunderland took a quick tap penalty and ran at the Bishops line, earned them yet another try which was converted.

It is to Bishops credit that they did not give up and finish the game with a second try by Hughes who went over in the corner following good work by Gallone and Dodds.

It was too little too late though and Bishops will need to show improvement if they are to arrest their recent loss of form.

Bishop Auckland Second XV also suffered defeat when they went down 52-0 to Durham City Fourth XV in the Durham County RFU Fourth Teams Shield. Bishops fielded a young and inexperienced side and were up against a well-organised, experienced Durham team.