Mowden took the lead after five minutes when Number 8 Joe Mercer broke from the scrum before passing to the supporting Luke Kelly, who strode through to score, Daniel Wilson missing the conversion.

After ten minutes Mowden took a ball against the head on the half-way line with Mercer peeling from the back and popping a pass to fly half Daniel Wilson who scored.

In the last minutes of the first half Durham's backs fumbled the ball and Mercer kicked the ball on, he and Daniel Carter touching down at the same time.

Mercer broke again to score under the posts, Wilson adding the conversion, and there were further Mowden tries from Thomas Haithwaite and Kelly.

Mowden then relaxed and poor defending allowed Durham to score a consolation try.

Darlington Under-13s

Oa bright autumn morning Darlington Under-13s entertained West Hartlepool at Blackwell Meadows. The game was dominated by a strong Darlington pack providing good ball for the backs.

In the opening few minutes West pushed Darlington back into their own half before fly-half Rory Clegg picked up and kicked resulting in a knock on from the attempted catch. The scrum that followed found West's defence unorganised the quick ball out towards the right wing produced a 4 man overlap and Matty Lister ran in under the posts.

Darlington's forwards had concentrated on rucking at their mid-week practice and the following two tries were the result of some good work in and around the ruck, West's defence was sucked in on both occasion before the ball was released to the quick and elusive backs. Joe Kiberige ran in the first from half way the second passing through four sets of hands before wing Jordan Riley went over in the corner.

The next two tries were brilliant individual efforts; full-back Matty Lister from the half way line and centre Joe Kiberige who avoided several tackles to run the full length of the field.

The second half started with the same Darlington dominance as the first, despite several substitutions, John Dawson presenting the perfect pass to set Marcus Moore up for a fifty yards sprint down the right wing. With the score at 40-0 West could have been forgiven if they had lost their enthusiasm for the match however, they produced their best efforts at this point scoring two similar tries. Given the ball in Darlington's 22, strong West Hartlepool mauling moved the ball within reach of the try line they took both opportunities well.

Darlington's final try was typical of their early successes, good rucking in centre field left backs unmarked , unselfishly Blair Monaghan giving the final pass to John Dawson only five yards out.

Darlington supremo Dale Kelly seemed pleased with the performance "De boys dun good" was believed to be his comment.

Final score was Darlington 47, West Hartlepool 10