BLAYDON enjoyed a rare win against Darlington Mowden Park when their forward strength carried them to a 25-10 win at Yiewsley Drive on Saturday.

All Blaydon's tries came from scrum halves as Andy Foreman scored twice and Mick Dungait, who replaced him for the last three minutes, nipped over with his second touch of the ball.

It was 10-10 at half-time, but then Blaydon found another gear and Mowden were rarely out of their own half.

They were unable to counter Blaydon's game plan, which offered few thrills but allowed Colin Duncan to prove that there is no need to fly up James Lofthouse from London to play at fly half.

Duncan was switched from full back when Nick Gandy cried off because of work on Friday night and his astute kicking kept the pressure on Mowden, especially as they were struggling badly at the line-out.

Blaydon have lost ex-Coventry lock John Griffiths to Manchester, but Scotsman Mike Donaldson proved his value in a game of 46 line-outs as Mowden lost eight on their own throw-in.

They also suffered another injury as Matt Howland went off after 20 minutes with a broken collar bone, forcing James Tyrrell to switch to centre on his debut.

There are question marks over the futures of experienced half backs Jon Wrigley and Kevan Oliphant, but Mowden won't worry too much about scrum half Richard Holbrough as he has proved he can perform at this level.

Unfortunately, he had an off-day against Blaydon, which didn't help acting captain Mark Bedworth at fly half and the backs hardly saw the ball.

Although Mowden's replacement prop Michael Hall and Blaydon flanker Gavin Stainsby were sin-binned, there was no nastiness in the game.

Mowden strong man Danny Brown was subdued, and although Jon Dye had a solid game and tackled well against his former club, playing him out of position didn't help Mowden's struggle in the front five.

No 8 John Hutchinson was one of those who missed Foreman on his 35-metre dash to the line after five minutes, otherwise the former captain did what was asked of him on his return to the side.

He repeatedly got Mowden over the gain line until he was replaced after 60 minutes by Kelekolia Paino, who had little impact.

Foreman, who scored 18 tries last season, grabbed his first of this campaign when he darted between Holbrough and the pack and cut inside for Sean Hannah to add the conversion.

Mowden came back and after a penalty to the corner Hutchinson was driven over and Bedworth added an excellent conversion.

Mowden could have forged ahead but twice knocked on near the line, and when they began to concede silly penalties Hannah put Blaydon back in front before Bedworth replied five minutes before the break.

Blaydon's second half pressure was rewarded by a Hannah penalty before Foreman went through to score again after 59 minutes.

A break by Jonno Wilson almost led to a try for Mowden, but Duncan got back to put in the try-saving tackle.

Good work by impressive Australian flanker Tom McLaren preceded the final try, although Dungait still had a bit to do as he burrowed through a ruck and found himself clear 15 metres from the line.

Result: Darlington Mowden Park 10 Blaydon 25.