Darlington are dynamic at festival

Drawn in a strong group with Macclesfield and Fylde the games were going to be tough. First up was Macclesfield and Darlington. Darlington had twice been beaten by Macclesfield earlier this season but it was Darlington that took the early advantage with a David Macfall try. Darlington took this five point advantage into the second half but Macclesfield came straight back to level the score. Some excellent play by the forwards set Oliver Mabbutt on his way and he off-loaded to Rory Clegg who ran in close to the posts. His attempt at the conversion was pulled wide. The Macclesfield winger ran from his own 22 down the right touchline before cutting in under the post to secure not only the five points for the try but the conversion just took Macclesfield into the lead as the full time whistle went.

Last year's winners Fylde now had to play Macclesfield and beat them by 12 points to 10, the same margin as Darlington had lost to Macclesfield. In the final game of the group it meant that Darlington had to beat Fylde by more than two points to go to the final. A loss would leave them bottom of the group. Once again the competition was very evenly matched tackles were hard and came thick and fast from both sides with each side taking it in turn to move forward. The breakthrough came when the strong run of David Macfall took him across the line for Darlington. Fylde upped their game knowing that the minutes ticked away quickly. Darlington soaked up the pressure through the second half, they had to with just a five point advantage. All 15 players gave everything they had to prevent Fylde from scoring. As the clock ticked into injury time it looked as though Fylde would repeat events of the opening game when the winger took off down the right side but he was just nudged into touch before finding the open field and play was brought back before one last play and the final whistle. Group victory, but only just.

Darlington met the hosts Sandal on the first team pitch to decide who was to take the trophy home. David Macfall was the benefactor again from some strong and controlled play by both forwards and backs in centre field and crossed the line to score in the first half. Immediately Sandal responded and their full back outpaced a tiring defense but as he crossed the line he knew the conversion was important. In the strong wind he attempted to get close to the posts but the determination from Rory Clegg and Mat Lister, who had chased him down, forced him to put a foot beyond the dead ball line and the try was disallowed.

The let off gave the Darlington side the wake up call they needed and throughout the second half defended magnificently. When the referee called last play the tension almost became too much for them as they twice tried to clear the ball to touch and failed giving possession to Sandal but eventually the whistle blew as the ball went dead with Darlington under 14s victorious in an excellent six team tournament.