WARREN Seals landed his fifth penalty with the last kick of the match to clinch a 22-20 win for Darlington Mowden Park at Hull Ionians.

The South African fly half, who took over the goal-kicking when Garry Law was injured early last month, also converted the only try, scored after two minutes by Simon Uzokwe.

The flanker finished off a forward drive for his 17th of the season, but the fluency they enjoyed in the middle of their 12-match winning run continued to elude injury-hit Mowden.

They led 10-7 at half-time but fell 14-10 behind and the lead kept changing hands through penalties until Seals secured victory.

For the second successive week a hat-trick by Jason Smithson proved in vain for Blaydon as they lost 42-29 at Esher.

The back row man now leads the National One charts with 22, having scored ten in the last four games. The vast majority have been from catch-and-drives.

Blaydon lost the game in the last six minutes of the first half, when they conceded 17 points after battling back from 10-0 down to draw level when facing a cold wind.

Scrum half Nathan Horsfall scored a 50-metre interception try, converted by Tom Penny, who added a penalty.

But missed tackles proved costly as Esher were rewarded for their greater enterprise as the right winger scored twice in quick succession. Full back Ali Chisholm converted both and added a penalty just before half-time on his way to 27 points.

His second try, after 69 minutes, killed off Blaydon's fightback and Smithson's third ten minutes later merely provided the consolation of a four-try bonus.

They weren't helped by briefly being reduced to 13 men with both centres, Penny and Tom Rock, in the bin. They felt Penny's yellow card, for an alleged tip tackle, was harsh.

Tynedale eased their relegation worries in Two North with a 38-17 win against Stourbridge at Kingston Park. Fly half Rob Parker again excelled with a try, three penalties and two conversions.

Full back Dan Marshall, a Falcons Academy player, scored two of the five tries as Tynedale made light of being pushed around up front. Another youngster, replacement hooker Jamie Blamire, scored a debut try at the death.

Billingham slipped into the bottom half of Three North when they lost 27-13 at Rossendale after leading 13-5 at half-time. Their tries were scored by Elliott Husband and Luke Wilson, who added a penalty.

West Hartlepool's 26-22 defeat at Wheatley Hills saw their Doncaster hosts climb above Westoe and Northern in the battle to avoid the drop in North One East.

The Tyneside duo both lost at home, Westoe's revival hitting the buffers with a 51-28 defeat by Morley, while alarm bells will be ringing for Northern after losing 36-16 to Guisborough.

Durham City closed in on the Durham and Northumberland One title when they romped to a 79-26 home win against Ryton.

The visitors competed well up front, but the City backs excelled with centre Bradley Pears scoring four of the 11 tries. He also dropped a goal while Paul Armstrong landed nine conversions and a penalty.

Middlesbrough shrugged off late withdrawals, which saw Nathan Goodison make a try-scoring debut, to win 74-13 at Darlington.

As usual, given the strength of their pack, Darlington made a decent start and were twice in the lead either side of a try by Boro skipper Rob Bellerby.

But the hosts' defensive frailties were exposed by Boro’s fluency, which produced 12 tries. Winger Ben Wood had three and hooker Ash Kearney two, while there was one apiece for the Gaudie brothers, Sam and Joe.

Conner Foley darted over from a scrum taken against the head, with Miles Colvin and Josh Lynas completing the tally.

The pick of the bunch were two long-distance tries in which most of the team handled, finished by Wood and Sam Gaudie.

Darlington, on zero points after having five deducted, are 30 adrift of Ponteland, whose bold survival bid produced a 20-12 win at Gosforth, only for the team above them, Medicals, to win by the same score at Gateshead.

Stockton kept a crowd of former players entertained with a 34-22 win against Novos, Jeremy Good kicking five penalties and two conversions.

The visitors dominated the scrums and came back from 19-0 down just before half-time to trail only 24-22 with ten minutes left. But Stockton finished strongly, replacement back Richie Brown forcing his way over for their third try.

The others resulted from good teamwork, finished off by Todd Highfield and Phil Douglas.

*A try by Darlington Mowden Sharks lock Tamara Taylor could not prevent England Women losing the Six Nations Grand Slam decider 17-12 to France at the Stade de la Rabine, Vannes.

England led 7-5 at the break and it was 12-12 after Taylor powered over. But France scored the decisive try with ten minutes left.

The Sharks' La Toya Mason was at scrum half with Heather Kerr and Ruth Laybourn on the bench.