THE first XI made hard work of Saturday's 35-5 victory at home to Wearside in the Durham and Northumberland third division as the visitors were a man short throughout.

The home side opened the scoring as early as the first minute with a Peter Sayer penalty, but they struggled to establish any kind of control over a spirited 14-man Wearside. Poor handling by Bishops allowed the visitors to establish a strong attacking position on the Auckland five metre line which eventually produced a try for Paul Stephenson.

Bishops replied with a second Sayer penalty, but the Wearside forwards contained their efforts with some vigorous defence. Eventually, from a scrum some fifteen metres from the Wearside line, Colwell moved the ball out to Bartle. He passed on to Copestake who touched down in the corner.

The homesters gave away territory with a number of needless penalties, but they doubled their score on the stroke of half time with two fine tries.

Atkinson sent Dent on a strong run upfield. Dent passsed out to Copestake who touched down for his second try. Atkinson scored the next himself when he brilliantly wrong -footed the Wearside defence to touch down under the posts. Sayer kicked both conversions to put Bishops 25-5 ahead.

With conditions deteriorating and light rapidly disappearing, the second half became a dour struggle between the two packs. With commendable enthusiasm Wearside took the game to Bishops, their efforts often hiding their lack of a full squad, and it took Bishops to within minutes of the final whistle before they scored again.

Sayer kicked a third penalty. Hamilton then took a quick tap penalty on Wearside's five metre line and passed to Perkins who trundled over for a try which Sayer converted.

The Auckland seconds produced their best result of the season with a resounding seven try-victory at Chester le Street, trouncing the home side 43-8. It was an excellent team performance, with the forwards in control and scrum half Simpson directing the traffic.

The Bishops tries came from Adam Barker (2), Paul Baty, Lee Atkinson, Ronnie Maughan, Paul Kitching and John Turner. Paul Constantine kicked four conversions.