THE A team beat West Hartlepool 10-0 in a thrilling final to lift the trophy and avenge the close defeat West gave the B squad in the early rounds of the U-9 competition at the Gateshead Sevens tournament.

The A squad easily despatched Westoe, Luke Edwardson scoring four tries tries and Liam Riley one.

They followed up with an excellent 5-0 win against Redcar, Luke Edwardson scoring the decisive try in a thrilling end-to-end game in which the quality of the tackling by Dan Baxter, Josh Smith and Liam Riley denied Redcar any chance of scoring.

The semi-final pitted Mowden against an imposing Sunderland side but Dan Baxter targeted the biggest player he could find from the kick off with a crunching tackle and Sunderland reeled from great Mowden tackles for the rest of the game.

Liam Riley opened the scoring and Ryan Teasdale nearly ran in what would have been an outstanding try but was denied by a great Sunderland cover tackle near the line.

Josh Smith scored next with a crunching run up the middle and Luke Edwardson finished the half off with a fine individual try, Dan Baxter, Sam Neasham and Dan Scholey putting in excellent tackles and support play to frustrate Sunderland.

Mowden ended the game with a perfectly executed set-play which wrongfooted the Sunderland defence for Liam Riley to complete a 20-0 win.

After a scoreless first half in the final against West, Josh Smith broke through to give an excellent pass to Sam Neasham, who dragged West defenders 20 yards before falling over the try line for a superb

try.

Fine tackling from the whole team forced error after error from West and the pressure told when Liam Riley scored in the corner to secure the title.

Mowden's Man of the Tournament was Sam Neasham, for his quiet

determination and consistent hard work every game.

Mowden B lost their first game to a strong Houghton side through lack of experience but quickly learned from this to give an outstanding display against West in their last pool game.

James Hadland was outstanding in attack while James Luckett, Lewis Roberts and Liam McAlorum all played very well. B Squad man of the tournament was scrum-half Nick Hazlett.

Four hard games without defeat wasn't quite good enough to get Mowden U-10s into the final of their age group at the Gateshead Sevens.

Mowden defeated the hosts 15- 0, Thomas Adkins scoring the first try after a surging forward run by James Hyde. Christopher Dove then scored twice in quick succcession.

Mowden found themselves 10-0 down to Hartlepool Rovers but an amazing

comeback saw David Turner crash over the line carrying three Hartlepool players with him then Dove earning the point, diving over in the corner.

Mowden and Durham City drew 0-0, unable to crack each others defence due to some crunching tackles, the best from Adkins, who ran the full length of the pitch to cut down his opposing number just as he was about to score.

Mowden then beat Westoe 25-0 but five tries weren't enough to secure a final spot. Mowden's tries came from David and Neil Hanlon ,Michael Chatt, Thomas Raw and Marcus Pratt, who danced through the Westoe defence to score a fine solo try.

Mowden's U-11s found touring side Nottingham Paviors too strong and lost 45-0.

Darlington Rugby Club Minis found the opposition tougher than normal when they attended the Sandal, Wakefield, tournament, with clubs from as far away as Alnwick and Worcester taking part.

Darlington U-8s achieved the club's best result, winning three and drawing one and losing to the eventual winners, hosts Sandal.

The U-9s lost their first two matches 15-0 to Hull Ionians and Tynedale, but improved teamwork and competitiveness despite losing 30-0 to group winners, Sandal Sharks. In the penultimate match against Alnwick they went 15 points down but rallied to score two. In the final match, Darlington came from behind to beat the Sandal B team 10- 5. Andrew Lister was outstanding in defence and attack, ably assisted by Finley Tait and James Jennings-Slater.

The U-10s failed to win a match despite some very spirited performances. Try-scorers included Lewis Johnson, Michael Waldin and Dan Fenwick.

The U-12s lost narrowly by 5-0 to both Hull Ionians and Worcester, before defeating Tynedale 30-0. That scoreline was reversed, however, when they played the host side. Only George Bryant impressed for Darlington.

Overall this was a disappointing day illustrating how important it is to play teams used to a consistently higher standard of competition.

Darlington will face several several of the sides they met at the weekend when they take part in the Northern Rugby Club tournament in three weeks time.

On Sunday, Darlington travel to Durham City, with teams leaving Blackwell Meadows by car at 9.30am