In Durham Northumberland Division Two, SEATON CAREW travelled to North Shields and chalked up their fifth win of the season leaving them comfortably placed in mid table. Seaton played the first period into the teeth of a gale but they kept the ball under close control and, despite being pinned into their own territory for the majority of the time, notched up four first half unconverted tries. The first score came after the forwards had driven into the home twenty-two and the ball was released out wide. Winger Stuart McLennan collected an awkward pass and forced his way over but within minutes Shields took the lead with a converted try. On the thirtieth minute mark, Seaton once again worked their way forward and flanker Alan Ainsley was mauled over the line in the corner. Despite the weather conditions, the line-out work between hooker Kev Tumilty and lock Lee Kidson was immaculate throughout the game and, when the latter took a clean catch inside his own twenty-two, the forwards took a driving maul well over the half way line. The ball was moved out wide to centre Martin Lithgo and eventually number eight Murry Stockdale crashed over the line. With five minutes remaining, Seaton found themselves once again on the back foot but McLennan managed to break out. Ainsley took over and, from his own twenty-two, ran the full length of the field to touch down in the corner leaving a trail of despairing defenders in his wake. Shields hit back immediately when one of their chasers collected the restart ball at speed and ran through Seaton's flat footed defence to touch down between the posts for a converted try.
Seaton failed to deal adequately with the second half kick-off ball and unbelievably tried to run it clear instead of using the wind advantage to clear their lines. Shields pounced on the opportunity and touched down in the corner to reduce the deficit to 20-19. Seaton controlled both territory and possession from then on, however, and three quick fire close range tries from Stockdale (2) and full-back Tom Addison restored the balance. Shields continued to show that they were still in this game and they added a further converted try to earn a bonus point but a score from veteran prop Vince Lithgo cancelled that out and Stand-off David Storey finally mastered the conditions to slot an excellent conversion. With time running out, Shields were turned over in midfield and scrum-half Dan Charlton fed Stockdale who went tearing down the wing for his fourth try and a final score of 47-26