BLAYDON played their full part in what was described as an excellent advert for National One rugby in a 34-26 defeat away to Hartpury Students.

As well as being very fast over the ground, the students recycled with great speed but despite running Blaydon ragged early on they managed only one try.

Once Blaydon got their hands on the ball they went through the phases until centre Tom Bramwell made a break and No 8 Jason Smithson dived over.

Ten minutes later fly half Craig Willis started and finished a move and Andrew Baggett converted for a 12-7 lead. But Hartpury scored just before half-time and added three more tries in the first 20 minutes of the second half to lead 31-12.

With winger Sean Brown always looking for work and skipper Keith Laughlin carrying strongly, Blaydon came back well. Laughlin and lock Will Witty scored tries, Baggett added the conversions and the gap was down to five points.

But in a match in which the penalty count went heavily against them, Blaydon conceded a final one to dash their victory hopes.

Relegated Tynedale won 26-17 at home to Loughborough, but it is doubtful whether any more will be seen of Kiwi flanker Dan Temm at Corbridge.

He finished a brilliant handling move for the first try after nine minutes and another converted try by No 8 Scott Powell made it 14-0 after 20 minutes.

The Students replied with two converted tries to be level at half-time then a penalty put them ahead. But Tynedale went back in front with a penalty try, Brett Connon adding his third conversion, before Ben Frankland touched down late in the game.

After securing safety with a fine run in North One East, West Hartlepool signed off with a 51-7 defeat at second-placed Sheffield.

West competed well for 30 minutes and were only 12-7 down until skipper Dan Boatman was sin-binned for a late tackle. By half-time they trailed 29-7.

Guisborough, once about ten levels below West, can look forward to rubbing shoulders with them next season after clinching their third promotion in six years. They continued their prolific scoring with eight tries in a 48-7 win at home to Hartlepool Rovers.

Morpeth won 46-13 at Consett and should fancy their chances at home to Malton and Norton in the play-off as the Yorkshire One runners-up continued their poor recent form by losing 39-13 at home to Doncaster Phoenix.

If Morpeth do go up it could result in Middlesbrough being switched to Durham & Northumberland One against their wishes as there is no other suitable candidate.

They finished fourth in Yorkshire One after winning 24-5 at home to Bridlington, despite their frantic attempts to run everything resulting in a lot of handling errors.

Boro were without fly half Simon O'Farrell, who broke a leg and an ankle at York the previous week, and their only first half try came from a pushover, touched down by Matty John.

A good break by Josh Lynas, supported by Euan Tremlett, produced a 50th-minute try for Matthew Todd before Bridlington collected a kick on halfway to score.

Boro's last two tries came from winger Rhys Kilbride, who beat three defenders for the first. His second was an easy run-in from 25 metres after a miscued clearance.

Despite losing the final game 43-10 at Gateshead, Stockton are happy that their youth policy is paying dividends after finishing with 76 points, 36 more than last season. They dominated the scrums and were awarded a penalty try, but Gateshead's speedy backs held sway.

Acklam clinched promotion back to D & N One by winning 57-26 at home to North Shields.