This weekend sees Darlington 1st XV welcome Whitby to Blackwell Meadows. Following a week off the team have had chance to re-group after the last league fixture against Ashington, with some good training sessions in place to put right the lessons learnt during the last game.

Whitby come in to game with mixed fortunes this season, however, we know all too well how strong and competitive Whitby can be, with them taking the spoils on the last 3 meetings between the clubs.

In the front row the ever present Dan Miller and Darren Hoare (C) are re-joined by former Whitby man Olly Telfer following his injury prior to the Ashington game. In the row Chris Anderson is joined again by Gary Dent, proving that experience counts for a lot. A very youthful back row made up of 2 newcomers this season in Xander Brown and Matt Short are joined by homegrown talent Stephen Carrick, all three love to get about the park.

In the backs the returning scrum half Mark Baldwin making his third appearance since rejoining his home club is joined in the half backs by another newcomer in Tony Lawless. Tony has shown poise and precision in the 10 shirt this season. In the centres Alex Carnell moves from his favoured 10 shirt to 12, joined by Sam Hardy to provide a great mix of pace and direct running rugby matched by solid defence. On the wings Andy Robinson on the right with Pat Searle on the left, Pat looking to improve on his incredible tally of 5 tries in his 4 outings so far this season. At full back we are excited for the return of Adam Smith now his farming duties have eased up, a strong running, strong tackling no nonsense full back who always poses a threat in attack.

On the bench Tom Glenning is joined by his brother-in-law Colin Rogers and back Terry Martin. Tom offering cover across the front row, with Colin able to fill an array of positions either in the second or back row. Terry offers a full range of positions across the backs.