With first use of the wind and slope at Ashington RFC on Sunday, Northumberland went into an early lead with a penalty by Marcus Rutter (Percy Park) followed by a sweeping move finished off by Simon Barber (Morpeth). A further penalty by Rutter made it 11-0.

Durham made headway but suffered when their prop was sent off. Durham proceeded to score two tries in two minutes. Soon after, a run from a scrum by no.8 Johnny Durnian (Billingham) and quick transfers to Atkinson resulted in him going over the line.

However, Northumberland eventually got on top against the 14 Durham men and scored tries through centre Paul Mooney (Morpeth) and no.8 Tom McKee (Northumbria Univ), both converted by Rutter making the final score 25-10 to Northumberland in an entertaining game