DARLINGTON Mowden Park may have found the fly half they have been seeking for the last few years in South African Johann Booysen.
He was outstanding in Saturday's 36-10 win at home to Leicester Lions, which lifted Mowden away from the danger area in National Three North.
Booysen scored two of the six tries and had a big hand in three others, the only disappointment being that he converted only one out of three in the first half and also missed a penalty before handing over to Iain Dixon.
Newcastle Academy player Eni Gisende also had an excellent game and after playing at lock last week Fosita Tanginoa scored two tries on the wing.
The Lions began the game six places above Mowden but dominated only briefly in the middle of the first half with the wind behind them.
They led 7-5 but Mowden broke out from their own 22 to score after 28 minutes and never looked back.
It was from Booysen's kick through that Tanginoa scored an early try, but after 20 minutes a visiting centre seized a loose ball to go under the posts.
Mowden were under pressure until Tanginoa sparked the breakaway try, Booysen taking it on before sending Gisende on a 40-metre run to the line.
Booysen then sliced through and centre Gareth Kerr's diagonal run on to a short pass took him to the posts, the conversion making it 17-7 at half-time.
Leicester knocked on at the restart and from the scrum Booysen dummied through to score from 40 metres, Dixon adding the first of his two conversions.
The Lions kicked a penalty before Mowden missed a glorious chance when the final pass in a good handling move failed to find Tanginoa with the line at his mercy.
But he did finish off a flowing backs move after 58 minutes and Booysen broke through again to score the final try and cap a good team performance.
Another side expected to climb the table after a poor start are Fylde, who made Blaydon work hard for their 27-13 home win.
After dropping fly half Dan Clappison, Blaydon were rewarded by an excellent kicking display from Richard Windle, including a downwind penalty from five metres inside his own half.
The Fylde forwards won their share of possession, but the home backs were much sharper and centre Martin Shaw scored two tries.
After an early exchange of penalties, Sua Segi put Shaw in from close range following a line-out. Windle converted then his long-range penalty on the stroke of half-time made it 13-3.
Fylde scored from a line-out drive ten minutes after the break, but when Blaydon looked like scoring in identical fashion the maul was pulled down and a penalty try was awarded.
That proved the pivotal point as from the restart there was some scrappy play before Segi fed Shaw, who rolled out of a tackle and raced 60 metres to score.
The conversion made it 27-8, but in trying for the four-try bonus point Blaydon kept losing the ball near the line and Fylde finally put in a big clearance kick and took advantage of a kind bounce to score.
Tynedale full back Will Massey scored a hat-trick in a 61-5 home win against New Brighton. Winger Hamish Smales bagged a brace as Tynedale used the wind to lead 40-0 at half-time.
Middlesbrough weren't helped by a late arrival at Altrincham Kersal and were 12-0 down after ten minutes. It took them a further ten minutes to get going, after which they played well, only for a disputed try to kill them off in a 29-12 defeat.
Boro were trailing 17-12 and getting on top when Altrincham were awarded a try under the posts when the ball did not appear to be grounded. They scored again at the death.
It was 17-7 at half-time, Boro's try coming when skipper Iain Bradford finished off a good move from their own half, Simon Moore converting.
Dave Richardson chipped over and followed up to score early in the second half then had to switch to fly half when Moore was injured, disrupting the fightback.
Westoe were denied by a last-minute try in a 19-15 defeat at Hull after coming back from 14-5 down at half-time.
Winger Jay Jay Boske followed up his own chip to put Westoe ahead after two minutes, but Hull quickly responded with two converted tries.
Fly half Dave Haswell kicked a penalty then converted his own try to put Westoe ahead, but they had a try ruled out when the referee felt the ball had not been grounded.
Durham City remain third in North Two East after winning 36-17 at home to West Hartlepool, winger Will Rubie and lock Stuart Smithson scoring two tries each.
There was little between the packs, but City were more clinical in forging 19-5 ahead after playing downwind in the first half.
It became 24-5 before West got the gap down to 24-17, only to concede two tries in the last five minutes.
Rubie opened the scoring on the short side of a scrum before West drove up the middle and prop Mark Cholmondeley forced his way over.
City ran a penalty and when the ball squirted out of a scrum on West's put-in they again probed the blind side for Rubie to touch down.
Smithson scored from a catch-and-drive just before half-time and 15 minutes after the break City kicked wide, caught a defender in possession and rucked the ball for fly half Dan Kyle to touch down.
West came back strongly, moving the ball left for flanker Jon Boatman to score on the overlap, and with ten minutes left they took a quick penalty and hooker Anth Carr was driven over.
David Tighe's conversion made it 24-17, but Smithson finished off another forward drive for City then flanker Howard Johnson's short pass sent centre Richard Knowles under the posts. James Walker added his third conversion.
The difference was in the finishing at Stockton, who had an almost equal share of the play yet lost 28-0 to Hartlepool Rovers, the frustration leading to another yellow card for Wayne Brown.
Stockton's misery was capped in the final minute, when they looked certain to score but Andy Foreman intercepted and raced the length of the field.
The first time Rovers got into the home 22 prop Jared Stevens scored from close range after 14 minutes, then an excellent handling move from halfway was finished off by hooker John Nicholls.
Jeremy Good missed Stockton's only shot at goal before they squandered two good chances late in the first half.
First they ignored a two-man overlap before Brett Wildridge picked up a metre short when the pack were still going forward in a pushover attempt.
Stockton pressure early in the second half went unrewarded then flanker Paul Kirton scored for Rovers before Gareth Foreman added two penalties and his brother's breakaway completed the scoring.
Young backs Tom Armstrong, Tom Jeffery and Dan Cowell showed up well for Stockton.
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