TWO back row men from the North-East are among only three players from north of Leicester in the 32-man England Under 20s elite squad, named yesterday.

Newcastle Falcons’ Alex Gray is joined by Leeds Carnegie No 8 Ollie Stedman, who was a Newcastle United schoolboy footballer before playing rugby for Percy Park and Westoe. He was also a Durham Academy cricketer before signing professional forms with Leeds.

The only other northerner in the squad, Sale’s Henry Thomas, is also a forward.

They will compete in the Under 20 RBS 6 Nations, starting against Wales at Llanelli next month, before heading for the IRB Junior World Championship in Italy in June.

Gray, currently on loan to Tynedale, is a product of Barnard Castle School and Darlington Mowden Park. He captained England at Under 16 and 18 level.

After five successive wins in National One, Blaydon’s Director of Rugby Tom Rock has challenged his players to use last Saturday’s victory against Stourbridge as a springboard for greater success.

“The players out-performed a dangerous Stourbridge side in every facet of the game, and to deliver that performance after a sevenweek break was outstanding,”

said Rock, who takes his team to Sedgley Park tomorrow.

“We are facing 18 straight league fixtures and we can’t afford to be satisfied with one good result. There has been a strong belief among the lads since we came in for pre-season in June but it has probably taken until now for them to fully understand what they can do.

“We can challenge the very best in the division and I have challenged the lads to start delivering the level of consistency that has been missing.

“They don’t crave a pat on the back after beating Stourbridge.

They are hungry for more, are willing to work hard to achieve more, and that’s really exciting for everyone involved.”

Despite recording their 13th win out of 14 last Saturday, Westoe slipped a place to third in National Two North because Fylde went back above them courtesy of the four-try bonus point in a 62-19 win against Morley.

Westoe will be looking for something similar tomorrow when they visit Morley, who are third from the bottom and have won only one of their last six games.

Westoe are likely to hand debuts to ex-West Hartlepool back Scott Jordan and former Horden hooker Richard Thirke.

Stockton hope to complete a hat-trick of wins against Gosforth, who are just above them in Durham and Northumberland One. Stockton have already won 26-18 on the plastic pitch at Druid Park in October and also beat tomorrow’s visitors 46- 7 in the National Intermediate Cup.

Hooker Dan Muirhead has concussion and prop Simon Brown is unavailable, so Matt Austen comes in and Mark Conway reverts to prop. Lock Craig Tennant and flanker Anthony Parkinson are available again, allowing Craig Slaughter to revert to the centre and coach Craig Lee to step down.