Darlington 55 Sunderland 0

Darlington opened brightly against Sunderland and after the kick off failed to go ten metres were awarded the put in at the resulting half way scrum. From the scrum Darlington moved the ball quickly between forwards and backs into the opposition twenty two where after a second scrum Conner Elser raced in for his first try, Nick Baldwin converting.

Darlington continued to pressure and when Sunderland were caught offside Nick Baldwin slotted over an easy penalty.

In the 13th minute it was Conner again after two successive catch and drives moved the ball forty metres towards the Sunderland line before being moved wide for the try. From the kick off Darlington were straight back to the Sunderland line where resolute defence kept them at bay.

After the initial opening salvo Darlington were kept at bay by stout defence and a number of passes that were adjudged forward but they still continued to dominate. This saw Darlington end the half with two further tries, Conner completing his hat trick after excellent interplay between forwards and backs. Shortly after Richard Snowball crashed over to finish off a driving maul after a pin point kick by Nick into the Sunderland twenty two forced the visitors to clear their lines and concede a line out. Nick Baldwin converted both for a 29-0 half time lead.

Early in the second half Joe Hargreaves was the next to score ploughing over to finish of a rolling maul from a line out after quality play had got Darlington within range, Nick converting. Bill Smith barrelled over once again from close range to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

From the restart Darlington were held briefly in defence before inter-play between forwards and backs saw Dave ‘Rhino’ Mackfall sear through the Sunderland defence to score with Nick converting.

Daniel Carter replaced Nick shortly after this score in a reorganised back line. This did not appear to upset momentum and shortly after Conner got his fourth with Henry Carver converting.

For the second week in a row Darlington kept a ‘clean sheet’ something they must look to emulate in their next game.

Although Sunderland were well beaten they never gave up trying both as a team and individuals and their tackling was in the main very good.