A good performance at the weekend against Ryton. What please you more, the scale of the win or the shut out?
I'd like to say I was just as happy with both but it has to be the clean sheet at the end of 80 min that I am more impressed with. With the ever adapting game it is very rare to hear of a team not getting some form of points on the board but last week we proved that it was possible to do. Our discipline was one of our 'areas for improvement' following the Novocastrians game and we adapted and reacted to this fantastically. Ryton did make us work for our points however, it wasn't that we could score as and when we wanted too and again they didn't stop playing for the full duration of the game which is very impressive and shows masses of character. I'm expecting a different result when we visit them later in the season (obviously I'm sure the result will go our way).

Stockton should pose a significantly greater challenge than Ryton, especially with home advantage?
I'm constantly hearing that Stockton are this 'fearless beast' that we need to be aware of and I've had a lot of advice from players, supporters and others on how we should play against them, which I am thankful for. However, we will go out there on Saturday and we will continue playing the style of rugby we have been playing. No doubt this will be a test for us as I am aware that we both haven't lost and all that divides us at the moment is 33 points. It's still early days in the league to be making assumptions but come Saturday Darlington RFC will be looking to divide the table even more so and make sure we keep ahead with a victory over Stockton to keep us on the top of the pile 3 weeks into the league.

The 2nds lost out narrowly at the weekend. Are they integral to the development of senior rugby as a whole?
1 point is hard to bear, it always will be but we had a very young side out against an experienced DMP side. I heard reports that the colts made significant impacts on the game throughout newcomer Jonathan Edes was reported as a stand out player as well as up and coming colt Ollie Pearse. This is the point of having a second team it is time for the guys who are just pushing the 1st XV players to show why they are worthy of shirts and to play in D&N 1. But to answer the question yes they are, last Thursday it was great to have a full 15 run through against each other, they don't just develop the '2nd XV players' which is a phrase I hate to say, but they also develop the guys who know they have pressure on to perform and keep their heads above water.

The Under 16s this last week had 5 players selected for the final Durham County squad; does this point to a bright future for the club?
It certainly does, I'm not sure where these players will end up and I'm not expecting to retain all of them when they develop into seniors but it certainly will help. It's shown this year that the colts merging with the seniors was a good idea and you can see the development process happening right before your eyes. I'm excited to work with Gary Adams and his team when they step up into the senior section as they have an outstanding background staff all keen to develop the players and team as much as possible.

I'd like to take the time to congratulate all the players selected and urge them to keep pushing and give all they can to ensure they secure places on the player pathway as they move forward and develop as players, congratulations and good luck!