TWO Teessiders are in the England Under 21 side to face France at Newbury tomorrow.

Newcastle Falcons Academy lock Geoff Parling, a product of Ian Ramsey School, Stockton, and the Stockton club will by joined by centre Chris Hyndman.

Now with Northampton, Hyndman went to St Michael's School, Billingham, and while playing for the junior sides at Middlesbrough he represented the England 18 group side.

Also in the Under 21 team is Newcastle flanker Ben Woods, while his Falcons Academy colleagues Andrew Buist, Ed Williamson and David Wilson are in the Under 19 squad. Wilson went to school in South Shields and began his career with Westoe.

Newcastle centre Jamie Noon has been drafted on to the England bench for tomorrow night's A international against France at Northampton.

Noon takes over from Wasps' Fraser Waters, who has a shoulder injury.

* Hartlepool Rovers are to stage Durham's County Championship match against Hertfordshire or Cumbria on May 10. Durham start their programme the previous week at Macclesfield against Cheshire.

Durham Under 20s' opening game with Lancashire on Sunday has been switched from Darlington to Horden. Their other matches (2.15 unless stated) are: Feb 23 v Cheshire at Gateshead; March 9 v Northumberland at Ashington; March 23 v Cumbria at Wigton; March 30 v Yorkshire at Durham City (2pm).

* The Durham Cup first round tie between Blaydon and Horden is to be held under the Crow Trees floodlights next Tuesday.

The Stockton v Durham City match has been rearranged for March 8, when all four Intermediate Cup ties will also be played.

West Hartlepool have pulled out of the senior event, giving Westoe a bye to the semi-finals.

The backlog of league games means there is no spare Saturday to fit in the Darlington Mowden Park v Darlington match, which will have to be played in midweek.

* The Catterick-based Infantry XV are to play four matches at Blackwell Meadows, starting with a game against a Darlington Development XV tomorrow (7.30).

The other games, kicking off at 2pm, are: March 12 v Royal Logistics Corps; March 19 v Royal Engineers; April 2 v Royal Signals.

* The seven clubs in Durham and Northumberland Division Four - Hartlepool Athletic, Shildon, Hartlepool BBOB, Seaham, Durham Constabulary, Newton Aycliffe and Wensleydale - are awaiting the results of league restructuring before deciding whether to take steps of their own to ensure more meaningful matches.

One scheme has already been rejected by some clubs, but it is now apparent that there could be a cascade effect down the whole league structure.

The division four clubs have asked permission to use four unregistered players instead of the present two, and also want the seven-day registration rule for those players to be scrapped.

It is also hoped that the experiement in Cumbria of playing 17-year-olds in league matches will be applied nationwide next year.

* Former Durham County captain Steve Havery was presented with the Bill Doig Trophy as the most promising referee of the year at the Durham Referees Society dinner at Hartlepool Rovers. The former Gateshead scrum half has reached North Division standard in only his second season.

The society's Whistler's Trophy, awarded to the most referee-friendly club was presented to Barnard Castle.

A refereeing course for beginners is being held at Hartlepool Rovers on March 12. Other courses covering youth and mini refereeing are also planned with full details available from Phil Harvey, the Teesside Rugby Development Officer.