DURHAM CITY 56 v DARLINGTON 15

A couple of penalties in the opening 5 minutes by scrum-half Paul Armstrong set them on their way and a driven lineout shortly after ended with No. 8 Peter (“the Pass”) Dent getting the first touchdown.

A penalty by Darlington full-back Lewis Metcalfe momentarily gave his side hope of staying in touch with a dominant City side at 11 – 3, but it was quickly dashed as the home side stretched away with a further 4 tries before the interval.

A good line by centre Bradley Pears took him clean through the Darlington defence for the first, a quickly-taken penalty and run by Armstrong ended with Dent putting winger Adam Huitson over, a strong break by centre Arnie Stevenson as they attacked from their own 22 was finished off by winger Craig Dominick who then, having moved to the centre for the injured Pears, broke himself and found full-back Sam Heron in support to score.

Armstrong converted 3 of the tries to establish a 37 – 3 lead and although Darlington came more into the game after that, scoring a try just before the interval through flanker Colin Rogers when they took a free-kick quickly , City were in no mood to let up.

Dent intercepted to score his second try 5 minutes into the second-half, Dominick followed suit, breaking to score under the posts and finally, hooker Kenny Reader forced his way over to finish off a good attack.

Armstrong converted 2 of them to seal a big victory, but Darlington had the last word, centre Dan Hall scoring in the closing minutes when they attacked in the City 22 and Metcalfe converting.

CITY: Sam Heron; Craig Dominick, Bradley Pears, Arnie Stevenson, Adam Huitson;
Phil Stewart, Paul Armstrong; Mike Hay, Kenny Reader, Tim Mackay, Colin Hogg,
Kevin Showler, Tom Baty, Jeff Roberts, Peter Dent.

Replacements: David Harries, Mark Barton, Jim Earley.