DARLINGTON Mowden Park overturned a 13-7 half-time deficit to romp to a 39-20 win in their National One game at Ampthill.

After a tight first half they opened up to great effect as they gave their highly-rated Bedfordshire hosts the runaround.

Fly half Caolan Ryan scored two of the four tries in the first 20 minutes of the second half and added four conversions and two penalties for a tally of 24 points.

Ampthill led through an early try and it was 35 minutes before Mowden replied, breaking through the defence twice before lock Seb Freydell touched down.

Two penalties secured Ampthill's interval lead, but they lost their discipline in the face of Mowden's high-speed attacks, which also produced tries for centre Chris Auld and flanker Joe Craggs.

The hosts scored with ten minutes left, but their hopes of a late fightback were dashed by Ryan's two penalties.

As at Mowden the previous week, Blaydon ran out of steam at home to Loughborough Students. They led 38-32 with 20 minutes left, but lost 66-38.

Four converted tries and two penalties gave the Students their 34 unanswered points, sparked by a penalty try and two yellow cards in a minute for Blaydon.

Loughborough also made a fast start but were pegged back by close-range tries from Chris Wearmouth and Jack Beckwith.

All six of Blaydon's tries came from forwards, with hooker Beckwith grabbing his second before half-time, then skipper Keith Laughlin, Trevor Davison and Gavin Jones also touched down.

Andrew Baggett kicked four conversions, but after three defeats Blaydon will again have to rely on the staying power which has seen them through previous seasons.

Tynedale lost 45-13 away to National Two North leaders Sale, who conceded their first try of the season to full back Oliver Walker. In the absence of fly half Ash Smith, Dan Taylor kicked the conversion and two penalties for Tynedale.

They are at home this week to Wharfedale, who opened their account with a 51-33 win against Hinckley with Teessiders Scott Jordan and Josh Burridge among the scorers.

In what could be their last game on grass at Greenwood Road, Billingham ran amok at home to Waterloo in Three North, winning 99-7.

Keeping up their tradition of high-speed rugby, they showed how devastating they might be on an artificial surface as wingers Tom Briggs and Adam Radwan scored hat-tricks.

The RFU are planning to spend £50m on 100 artificial pitches around the country in the hope that participation levels will continue to increase.

Billingham continue to forge ahead on Teesside, with Stockton and Middlesbrough both suffering worrying defeats.

Stockton are bottom of Durham and Northumberland One after losing 25-9 at home to Hartlepool, while Boro went down 56-18 away to leaders Northern.

Three other teams are unbeaten, including Horden and Peterlee, who clinched a 20-17 win at their new Eden Park home with the last kick against Hartlepool Rovers.

Craig Jones kicked the penalty deep into added time after also scoring a try. Steve Heckles and Jack McCallum also touched down, with Andrew Docherty the provider.

For Rovers, Daz Fawcett kicked a penalty and converted tries by Liam Wood and Taz Pelser.

North One East leaders West Hartlepool survived a fright in a 33-32 home win against Driffield, coming back from 32-19 down with ten minutes left.

West trailed 16-0 just before half-time and with their handling letting them down they resorted to two catch-and-drive tries by Adam Coates.

No 8 Sam Miller appeared on the left to force his way over from ten metres, but two more Driffield tries kept them well clear.

They began to tire, however, and replacement flanker Alex Barker scored for West before they opted for a scrum when awarded a penalty and Miller drove over.

Gavin Painter's fourth conversion sealed the victory, with Driffield shunning a kick at goal when awarded a late penalty.