ANOTHER week, another resounding victory for a Darlington Mowden Park side that continue to sweep all before them in National League One.

Their latest victory, a 22-7 success over Loughborough Students, made it 11 wins in a row and lifted Mowden to within four points of fourth-placed Plymouth Albion with ten games of the season to go.

Things are about to get significantly tougher for Danny Brown’s side, with their next two outings pitting them against Hartpury College and Richmond, who currently fill the top two slots in the table, but their form over the last couple of months suggests they will be more than a match for anyone.

They were dominant from an early stage of proceedings at Loughborough, and opened the scoring when a well-worked line-out move resulted in Talite Vaioleti crossing in the corner.

Warren Seals added the conversion, but Mowden were pegged back when George De Cothi’s quick tapped penalty enabled him to dot down for a converted try that levelled the scores.

That was the cue for Mowden to move up another gear though, and a well-worked attacking move culminated in Bruno Bravo claiming his side’s second try shortly before the break.

Harry Nuttall’s yellow card put Loughborough under further pressure at the start of the second half, and Mowden exploited their numerical superiority to force a close-range scrum over the line, with Oliver Hodgson claiming the score.

Seals’ 65th-minute penalty completed the scoring, and while Mowden were unable to claim the fourth try that would have resulted in a bonus point, their fine run of form continues.

The same cannot be said of Blaydon, whose relegation worries continue to mount in the wake of a 16-5 defeat at Plymouth.

Keith Laughlin, who was recently named in the England Counties squad, scored Blaydon’s only try in a game played in filthy conditions in the South-West, but Plymouth claimed tries through Matt Shepherd and Cameron Setter to close out a victory.

Tynedale are up to 11th in National Two North after they claimed an impressive 17-7 win over high-flying Caldy, while Northern were convincing 22-3 winners over South Shields Westoe in North One East. Percy Park went down 23-5 at Alnwick in the same division.

Durham City switched their attention from Durham and Northumberland One to the National Intermediate Cup, and can look forward to a quarter-final next month after a dominant 43-3 victory over Bradford Salem at Hollow Drift.

Bradley Pears scored a hat-trick of tries for Durham, with Sam Heron claiming another score and the referee awarding two penalty tries. Phil Stewart added a penalty and five conversions.

Durham remain on the top of the Durham and Northumberland One table, but third-placed Consett closed the gap with a resounding 57-10 win over Medicals.

Gateshead were 13-5 winners over Ryton, with Acklam claiming a 41-7 win at Ponteland. The scheduled game between Gosforth and Darlington was postponed.

There were wins in Durham and Northumberland Two for Ashington, Bishop Auckland, Blyth and Hartlepool.