BLAYDON received yet another reminder of the growing North-South divide in rugby when they lost 51-12 at Rosslyn Park.

The bottom five teams in National One are the most northerly clubs and Blaydon's only hope of survival is to overhaul this week's visitors, Mowden Park.

They are nine points behind, however, and still showing no sign of having the staying power to survive 80 minutes of attritional rugby.

They started well enough and scored the only try of the first half hour when winger Fraser Wilson burst through the middle. But after landing three penalties the immaculate kicking of the home fly half saw him convert two late first half tries for a flattering 23-7 lead.

Injuries to Gavin Jones and James Cooney, plus a yellow card for prop Paddy Ryan, disrupted Blaydon and they conceded four more tries, all converted, before Tom Grimes grabbed a late consolation.

Mowden might find their nearest rivals next season will be Fylde as Tynedale will not be rejoining them, while Wharfedale and Harrogate are in danger of dropping another level.

Tynedale's four-match winning run in National Two North was ended by a 33-25 home defeat by Stourbridge.

Winger Dan Rundle scored the clinching try against his former team-mates, the conversion also denying them a losing bonus point after they led 13-5 at half-time. They did at least grab a four-try bonus and were still ahead with ten minutes left before two tries dashed their hopes.

Billingham's inconsistency saw them slip to sixth in Three North when they were leapfrogged by visitors Hull, who eased to a 38-7 win.

West Hartlepool remain four points clear in North One East after a 20-0 home win against Malton and Norton.

West handed a first start to 17-year-old lock Jake Linighan because John Bunter was ill and he played his part in a dominant pack.

Zac Southern came into the line to score the first try, then Ryan Painter took a quick penalty and sent Rob Thorn over.

Gavin Painter added a penalty straight after half-time, but it was to be a further 38 minutes before forward pressure brought the third try for replacement flanker Carl Miller.

Durham City's four-match winning run was ended by two late penalties at home to Percy Park, who won 32-28 to narrow the gap between the clubs to one point.

After leading 14-0, City conceded four tries to trail 26-14 at the break before No 8 Peter Dent drove over. Good work by Tom Elliott and Craig Dominick then sent Garry Izomor over for a 28-26 lead, but they couldn't hang on and had to be content with two bonus points.

Barnard Castle were left idle in Durham and Northumberland One because scheduled visitors Gateshead were obliged to play a National Intermediate Cup game against Novos, which had been postponed three weeks earlier.

It doubled up as a league game and Gateshead won 21-8 to move further ahead of the bottom three, who have been cast adrift by Gosforth and Stockton's revival.

Something had to give when they met at Grangefield and it proved to be Stockton's discipline as they had No 8 Martin Dixon sent off after 16 minutes on the way to a 17-16 defeat.

Even though two yellow cards had them down to 12 men at one stage, Stockton led 16-7 through a converted try by prop Rhys McHugh and three Steve Bartliff penalties.

But the defensive duties took their toll and Gosforth scored a converted try with five minutes left then added a drop goal.

Middlesbrough slipped further behind Horden, who are one place above them in fourth, when they lost 29-15 at the Peterlee ground.

With both Tremlett brothers among several absentees, Boro's lack of depth was exposed, if not their spirit.

Tries by Ben Wood and Sean Moloney, plus a Matthew Todd penalty and conversion, had the gap down to 17-15 shortly after half-time, but Horden went on to collect the four-try bonus.