Darlington U 13s at the Gosforth Festival

The under 13's tied with the host club 0-0 in the final. Apart from the finalists Middlesborough, West Hartlepool, Northern, Selby and Carlisle battled it out for the honour of being the first to lift the cup in what is planned to be an annual event. Darlington's first match was against Carlisle. Ali Carr's first half try was the deciding factor in a hard fought match. With an early win under their belt Darlington faced Northern in the next round. Darlington were however sent reeling by an early try following some half hearted tackling through the middle of the park. Northern ran in under the posts and the conversion was successfully taken. Matt Lister looked a little out of sorts in the first match but he twice showed how quick he is from the full back position eventually running in to score under the posts. Rory Clegg made no mistake with the conversion to take the half time score to 7-7. Darlington controlled the second half well and eventually broke down the Northern defence when Dexter Bogle made it to the corner. Without further scores the match ended 12-7 to Darlington.

As winners of the group Darlington faced the runners up of the second group Selby, with a place in the final at stake. Darlington had produced a result from the first two games without playing well, against Selby they put on an excellent performance through forwards and backs. Jordan Riley scoring with a dazzling diagonal run from the right wing to the posts, Rory Clegg, Josh Walden and John Dawson all adding their names to the score sheet with only a single 5 point reply from Selby. Final score 22-5.

The final was played against the hosts Gosforth on the first team pitch and because the under 13's final was scheduled as the last match of the day there were plenty of supporters to cheer both sides on. After a long day both teams did well to produce a good display of hard rugby. Both sides had their chances and overlaps were wasted. But the trophy to be shared.