BLAYDON’S hopes of pulling well clear of the bottom four in National One were dashed by a 27-15 home defeat by Sedgley Park.

Fourth-bottom Wharfedale’s shock win at Cambridge means they are only four points behind Blaydon, who now face tough away games at Rosslyn Park and Cambridge.

They will be anxious to have Hall Charlton back at scrum half as young Matt Mellish struggled to provide an accurate service in the strong wind.

Blaydon dominated possession but the ball came back too slowly and they were beaten by a more purposeful side, whose kicker defied the elements to convert all three tries and add two penalties.

Winger Kevin McShane scored in the corner to put Blaydon ahead but when they conceded a turnover in a ruck deep in the visitors’ half Sedgley Park whipped the ball out for a winger to score.

A penalty by Andrew Baggett put Blaydon back in front, but a second converted try gave the visitors a 14-8 interval lead.

It became 21-8 before Blaydon dominated the last quarter but when No 8 Jason Smithson touched down under the posts they had a penalty awarded against them for a front row infringement.

Smithson did score late on and Baggett added a good conversion, but the visitors’ two penalties ensured there was to be no bonus point for the hosts.

Westoe moved up to fourth in National Two North when they came back from 11-8 down after 50 minutes to win 30-11 at Leicester Lions.

Winger Tommy Banks scored two of their five tries, the others coming from James Clark and replacements Haydn Richards and Peter Phelan.

Mark Bedworth, recently returned from injury, landed a penalty and conversion but departed late in the game with a nasty eye injury. Another blow was a yellow card for No 8 Ollie Stedman.

Stockton won their National Intermediate Cup tie at Ashington 31-3 and if they beat Ilkley at home on January 21 will then face the winners of the North West group.

Stockton struggled for possession early on and trailed 3- 0 until just before half-time, when their superior backs began to show their paces, assisted by new back row man Matt Wootten.

A former Clifton player who has been with Yarm, he put in a mazy run from the 22 to score in first half injury time after centre Richie Brown had finished off a scissors move.

Rob Green added both conversions for a 14-3 lead.

Right winger Dan Phinn added to his impressive tally by scoring the next two before the best try arrived with ten minutes left. No 8 Scott Powell picked up on halfway and good handling allowed Simon Crozier to finish off, Green again converting.

􀁧 England Women, captained by Darlington Mowden Sharks’ Katy McLean, put behind them the heartache of losing the 2010 Rugby World Cup final 13-10 by defeating the world champions, New Zealand, 10-0 at Twickenham.

McLean kicked a conversion and a drop goal, while clubmate Tamara Taylor also played the full 80 minutes in the second row.

Taylor secured the line-out ball which led to the try after 30 minutes, with McLean featuring in an excellent move.

Her drop goal came after 58 minutes.

Esher stages the final two Tests, tomorrow and on Saturday, December 3.