Rugby round-up

Two tries by winger Simon Barber clinched the victory after Blaydon trailed 17-11 at half-time against a side with big forwards but no mobility behind.

Powerful centre James Fitzpatrick was also a constant threat and his early bursts led to a penalty by Andrew Baggett and a try by flanker Scott Riddell for Blaydon to lead 8-0.

But the visitors came back with a penalty and two converted tries through their forwards either side of Baggett’s second penalty.

Newbury were in Blaydon’s half only twice after the interval and when a clearance found Barber on halfway he ran infield then chipped to a vacant corner and scored there.

Despite being under pressure, Newbury conceded no penalties but were guilty of another poor clearance for Barber’s second try. This time the ball was moved smartly along the line for him to cross in the corner, regaining the lead with ten minutes left. Blaydon had no difficulty in hanging on.

Tynedale suffered a third successive defeat when they lost 21-20 at Nuneaton after leading 20-0 through a penalty try, two tries by hooker Joe Graham, plus a conversion and drop goal by Ashley Smith.

Nuneaton kicked a penalty just before half-time and scored two well-worked tries in eight minutes after the break. A conversion made it 20-15 and home full back Huw Thomas added two penalties in the last five minutes.

Westoe continued their climb up National Two North with a 30-17 home win against struggling Waterloo.

Full back Dan Rayson raced 30 metres up the right wing for an early try, converted by Charlie Rayner, who needed to land a penalty to make it 10-10 at the break following two Waterloo tries.

Rayner burst through three tackles to touch down before the visitors levelled again, prompting the Westoe pack to take command.

Rayner regained the lead with a penalty then No 8 Michael Ellery burst from a maul to score and finally centre James Clark raced over.

Middlesbrough slipped to fourth place in Three North when they lost 19-14 at Birkenhead Park after leading 14-0 at halftime.

Lock Richie Barker scored from a maul and Callum Campbell kicked three penalties, but he missed one when the hosts had clawed back to 14-13 with the wind behind them. In the last four minutes they kicked two penalties.

Darlington Mowden Park consolidated their mid-table position with a 20-0 win at Cleckheaton after coach Peter Taylor was driven over from a line-out for the only score of a dour first half.

It was all Mowden after the interval, with Robin Eatough impressing on his debut in a strong centre pairing with Andrew Pugh.

Dogged defence kept Mowden out for 20 minutes before the second try came from winger Matt Goforth, who later had to retire after a high tackle.

Richie Young replaced him and kicked the resulting penalty, then Eatough made a 40-metre break and after three phases prop Ralph Appleby crashed over.

West Hartlepool climbed above Cleckheaton into fourth bottom position with a 27-22 win at home to Penrith, which gave them their first four-try bonus point.

Two excellent breaks by Paul Moss set up crucial tries for fellow centre Peter Hodgson and flanker Jon Boatman, who also scored from an overlap on the right straight after Penrith had gone 7-0 ahead.

Hodgson’s try, converted by Moss, put West 12-7 ahead, but Penrith kicked a penalty and, despite facing the wind, added two tries in five minutes after halftime to lead 22-12.

Moss set up and converted Boatman’s second try then fly half Phil Wallis levelled the scores with a 40-metre drop goal.

With five minutes left West kicked a penalty to the corner and after Tom Dixon won the line-out No 8 Dave Garside peeled off the maul to score.

Unbeaten Billingham took their points tally to 425 in eight games in North One East with a 60-6 home win against bottom club Ilkley, who defended well for the first 15 minutes.

After that they had no answer to Billingham’s excellent handling in difficult conditions and there was no stopping them after leading 22-0 at half-time.

Chris Hyndman, Craig Shepherd and Dan Keenan scored two each of the ten tries, while Joe Evans also touched down and added five conversions.

The only North-East team with more points than Billingham are Northern, who topped 500 in their eighth game at Stockton but were held to a 17-17 draw.

Dave Guthrie, one of several ex-Blaydon players who have strengthened Northern, played only half a game and was apparently highly impressed by home No 8 Scott Powell, who recently returned from New Zealand.

After an even first 20 minutes Northern went ahead when Stockton lost control of their own ball at a five-metre scrum. But they came back with a try by Tom Jeffery, who played well at full back on his return from injury.

Missed tackles allowed Northern a second try for a 12-5 half-time lead, but midway through the second half prop Dan Youdale supported strong running by Jeffery and Simon Crozier to score in the corner.

Northern attacked from their own 22 to go 17-10 ahead, but with five minutes left Rob Green kicked through and winger Mark Shires passed two defenders to gather and score. Green’s conversion levelled the scores.