Durham Tigers made it three wins in a row and recorded their first over inter-divisional victory when they beat Northern Division side Derby City 48.4 at Framwellgate Moor.

Durham Tigers hunt for a play-off place continues following a comprehensive Round seven defeat of Derby City.

The Midland outfit had beaten the Tiger in round two, and must have been hoping to repeat that result to allow them to move up to third in a tight Northern Division table, but instead they could do little other than confirm just how much Durham have improved during this season.

The writing was on the wall after just two minutes, winger Jamie Walsh outflanking a stretched defence to score in the corner. A strong wind defeated the conversion attempt - and most others that followed -but all the same Durham had little problem registering further points.

Towering forward Mick Ruddick made a good debut further strengthening a much-improved Durham pack, but while the forwards made impressive inroads all afternoon it was Durham's pacy array of backs that scored most of the tries. Prop Andy Thompson was the exception to the tale with a good effort in the first half, but from there onwards the pattern of the game was one of big gains down the middle by the Tigers pack followed by the release of the backs to scythe through a struggling Derby defence.

Derby never gave in and had good spells of possession. but the Durham defence was both well-organised and aggressive. Despite having the wind behind them, Derby were kept score-less in the first half. while Durham player- coach Rob Jones had another big game, totally controlling play from the scrum half position and scoring a hat-trick of tries. The highlights however wore two superb long-range tTies from, centre lan Bell, both from within his own half.

Derby stuck to their task admirably and managed to threaten the Durham line during the second half, Shaun Walls finally scoring a consolation try to give the Derby travelling support something to cheer. The Tigers had the last word though, with tries from Chris Naylor and substitute Chris Burnett ensuring the scoreline was a fair reflection of Durham's dominance.

The win keeps Durham second in the divisional table and boosts confidence ahead of next week's trip to Teesside Steelers. "Teesside will be, tough," commented Rob Jones. "They're the reigning national champions and in fact they've never lost an RLC game."

Fixtures for Round 8: All games to be played tomorrow: Bridlington Bulls v Manchester Knights*; Sunderland City v Newcastle Knights; Teesside Steelers v Durham Tigers

*Inter-divisional fixtures, the results of which count in the divisional table