In their first game of the season Darlington District Schools Year 9 team beat Chester-le-Street District in an exciting game at Houghton-le-Spring 22-5.

Despite having had only one training session with coach Andy Thompson, Darlington looked like a team from kick-off. However, it was Chester-le-Street who applied the early pressure, pushing deep into Darlington territory with a series of good attacks up the middle of the park.

They were stopped only yards from the Darlington try line by some excellent defence, not least the tackling of Adam Thompson at inside centre, which was strong throughout the game as was his outstanding play in attack.

Darlington then came back strongly themselves and worked the ball up the pitch for first of three first half scores. The pick of these was scored by Buch Hadland from a scrum on the Chester-le-street five metre line. The ball was picked up by Captain Danny Large at number eight and popped off in the tackle to Buch who finished the set move well.

Chester-le-Street came back strongly in the second half but conceded a further try scored by prop Ben Wood with a 15-yard run from a maul to touch down. Darlington did concede a try late in the game, but the win by that stage was assured.

Overall this was an excellent performance by all 19 in the Darlington squad. The game was played with good sportsmanship from both sides, was physical and played at a very fast pace due to the well-compacted pitch. All watching agreed it was as exciting to be a spectator as it looked to be a player.