BLAYDON climbed off the bottom of National One when they ended a run of seven defeats by overcoming a worrying start at home to Fylde.

The visitors led 14-0 after four minutes but it was 17-17 at the break and Blaydon went on to win 34-17 against 14 men.

Fylde's No 6 was sent off after ten minutes for punching a player on the ground. Their No 8 had already had a yellow card and a prop was sin-binned in the second half.

Blaydon took full advantage, resisting the temptation to create overlaps and playing to their forward strength, with Jason Smithson outstanding.

Young fly half Brett Connon also played well, converting all four tries and adding two penalties.

Forward dominance led to two penalty tries, from a line-out drive and a scrum, while No 8 Gavin Jones also scored from a scrum.

Fylde tried to counter the catch-and-drive by standing off, but Blaydon scrum half Ruaridh Dawson took advantage by nipping through a gap to score.

Tynedale remain just above the drop zone in National Two North after losing 28-19 away to Broadstreet, one of the three clubs below them.

The Midlanders led 25-5 before Tynedale fought back, adding to Rob Parker's first half try when they broke almost from their own line to score a fine team try through Matty Outson.

Ashley Smith scored their third try and added two conversions.

Teenage winger Adam Radwan continued his fine start in senior rugby with two more tries for Billingham, but they were not enough to prevent a 17-10 defeat in the mid-table National Three North battle at Birkenhead Park.

West Hartlepool remain third in North One East but are well adrift of the top two after a 22-6 defeat at Morpeth. A penalty and drop goal by Gavin Painter had West 6-3 ahead on the half hour, but home full back Alex Ball scored the only try in bagging 19 points.

Durham City lost their 100 per cent record in Durham and Northumberland One when they went down 15-8 at home to third-placed Consett.

City remain top but Middlesbrough are only one point behind following their 13-6 win at Ackam, who fell behind after three minutes when they failed to secure line-out ball and Liam Wilson pounced to set up a try for Andy Micklewright.

The rest of the half was an error-strewn scrap with Acklam missing two penalties before dominating possession with the wind at their backs.

But they created only one clear chance before kicking a penalty, only for Boro to respond quickly through an attack started by Mike Thornburn and finished by winger Rhys Kilbride.

With ten minutes left Acklam kicked another penalty, but Boro finished the stronger and Simon Moore landed a simple late penalty.

Stockton made heavy weather of winning 20-16 at home to struggling Ponteland after an early try by centre Craig Slaughter was converted by Dan Phinn.

Right winger Brian Morris added a second but Stockton began to concede penalties, three of which were kicked before Phinn landed one for a 15-9 interval lead.

Ponteland went ahead when they capitalised on poor midfield defence with a converted try, but with the referee Mark Jude playing advantage Phinn sliced through to score the decisive try.

Darlington, the only team below Ponteland, conceded 50 points for the fourth successive game, losing 56-0 at home to Horden.

The likelihood of Barnard Castle exchanging places with Darlington remains strong after they leapt to the top of division two by scoring 16 tries in romping to a 100-0 home win against Wallsend.

They began with two catch-and drive tries by Andrew Clement and Rob Stanwix before moving the ball wide for Tyler Claydon and Ed Kirby to score.

Ex-Mowden winger Chris McTurk and Stanwix completed hat-tricks before half-time, when it was 64-0, and McTurk added a fourth before retiring. Claydon and Kirby also bagged trebles, Stanwix ran 70 yards for his fourth and Adam Kicks scored the last.

With Mowden Sharks pair Tamara Taylor and Abbie Scott in the second row, England Women lost 11-0 to France in Martigues. Two more Sharks, Ruth Leybourn and LaToya Mason, were on the bench.