Darlington Under-16s were lucky to get a squad to play at West Hartlepool where Darlington won 22-19.

West games are always very competitive, and this continued when only minutes from the start, their winger broke away from a maul and ran from the half way line to score under the posts.

At 7-0 down after a few minutes, the exact thing happened within minutes of the re-start. A West player ran the length of the pitch to score under the posts. At this stage Darlington were 14-0 down and hoping the ref would blow for half time.

The second half saw Darlington work harder, helped by a few shouts form coach Tommy Miller, not all directed at the players. Props Sonny Spence and Colin Rogers put in a huge amount of work, Sam Fluen picked up a loose ball and drove over to put points on the board for Darlington

It was almost one way traffic from then on. Forwards from a lineout drove over in a controlled maul, Edward Challis putting ball to ground for the try.

Stand-in fly-half Alex Moore controlled the game, letting the backs run at West's defence and Steve Donnally once again showed that he is one of the best full backs in the North at this age.

The visitors fought back to 22-19 when a penalty was awarded to West in front of the posts. Their kicker, who had not missed his kicks all day, sliced this one, allowing Darlington to come away with a well-deserved win.

Prop Sonny Spence showed great commitment and skills for the entire game, making at least a dozen good runs, won balls in the loose, gave encouragement and support to the pack while new player Chris Anderson impressed.

The Under-13s travelled to Bullock Steads the home of Gosforth RFC with their smallest squad for some time and lost 32-0. The lack of experienced backs proved costly and Darlington suffered their first defeat of the year.

From the kick-off. Gosforth were caught cold but survived two attacks close to their try line. Almost immediately however, Gosforth responded with an attack of their own with an individual try ran in from centre field.

Despite an obviously bigger opposition pack Darlington forwards secured all their own ball in the scrum and won at least five against the head. Even though the scrummaging produced good ball to number 10, Rory Clegg, his options were limited and Gosforth flankers put him under pressure on several occasions.

When the ball did get to the wing Dexter Bogle impressed with strong elusive running but failed to cross the line coming very close on two occasions. Unfortunately Dexter had to leave the field injured on half time having just witnessed a hopeful kick to open field that exposed the Darlington defence Gosforth collecting the ball and running in under the posts.

The second half proved equally disappointing for Darlington. As a team there was very little of their usual determination and commitment to tackles. Gosforth exploited this poor tackling and ran in four more tries.