Darlington Mowden Park face front row problems for tomorrow's visit to National Three North's bottom club, Bedford Athletic.

They were not given the go-ahead by Newcastle Falcons to re-register tight head Ed Kalman following his week's loan to Leeds Tykes, and there are doubts about both Ian Keeligan and Danny Brown.

Keeligan has been nursing a back problem for some time, so Mowden could turn to two players who have benched twice this season in Mark Darlington and Irish hooker Mick Martin.

To add to Mowden's woes ahead of a game they desperately need to win, goal-kicker Mark Bedworth broke down in training on Tuesday and still looks some way off a return.

Tongan lock Kelekolio Paino is likely to feature for the first time this season after two outings in the second team. He will step in for Luke Monument, who was handed a one-week ban at an RFU hearing this week following his sending-off at Blaydon.

Bedford reported yesterday that they have no snow, but despite the fact that kick-offs are usually at 3pm in March they are insisting on a 2.15 start, which means an 8am departure for Mowden.

Despite being six points adrift at the foot of the table, recent results suggest Bedford have not given up the ghost, which is bad news for both Darlington clubs as Bedford visit Blackwell Meadows next week.

Darlington first entertain Dudley Kingswinford, who are four points behind them in next to bottom place. The visitors dragged Mowden into the mire and gave themselves a lifeline with a 5-0 win at Yiewsley Drive in January, so Darlington will be taking nothing for granted.

* Several Teesside and Hartlepool clubs will have to balance the threat of relegation against the desire to play for a good cause on March 13.

A match between the Teesside Barbarians and a Hartlepool XV is to be held at Hartlepool Rovers to raise money for the Tsunami Appeal. The Barbarians' squad includes eight players from Middlesbrough, who entertain Sheffield the previous day in a match they must win to have any chance of avoiding relegation from North One.

Three players from both Darlington clubs have also agreed to take part, despite their relegation worries in National Three North. Last Saturday's postponements mean the neighbouring rivals face a hectic programme through to April 30.

There are also seven Stockton players involved and they are not quite out of the woods in North Two East. Nor are Horden and West Hartlepool, who provide six and five players respectively for the Hartlepool squad.

However, the fund-raiser will obviously be an exhibition match and one man who will be hoping the tackles don't go in too hard is Mowden's backs coach Kevan Oliphant.

Although he keeps fit and has had to sit on the bench twice this season, he has not played seriously since suffering a bad keen injury two and half years ago.

Hartlepool squad: P Bruce, A Turner, A Temple, M Thubron, G Davidson, M Thompson (Horden), J Boatman, H Tones, B Cullinane, C Lambert, D Thomas (West Hartlepool), G Foreman, A Foreman, S Rutherford, J Wrigley, S Hall, M Power, S Langston (Hartlepool Rovers), A Palmer, J Masheder, S Jones, S Cavey, A Parker (TDSOB), A Woodward, S Palmer (Hartlepool), P Howe, J Starrs (BBOB), R Shires (Hartlepool Athletic), P Storey, T Rayner (Seaton Carew).

Teesside Babarians: A Micklewright, L Richardson, D Richardson, P Wright, N Baggett, C Horton, R Horton, I Bradford (Middlesbrough), G Skirving, M Skirving, D Muirhead, K Etherington, S Crozier, W Brown, A Brown (capt, Stockton), I Dixon, K Oliphant, I Robinson (Mowden Park), C Lee, P Lee, M Howe (Darlington), J Connolly, M Hemingway, P Beal (Redcar), C Shepherd, M Evans (Billingham), P Beattie, S Bate (Yarm), P Devenport (Guisborough).

* St Peter's School, York, have reached Twickenham on March 23 by ending the amazing run of Bristol-based Colston's in the Daily Mail Cup. Colston's were unbeaten in the competition for 51 games, but St Peter's beat them 19-14 in the semi-final.

They trailed 14-13 until Charlie Parry kicked his third penalty in the last minute of normal time, then winger James Marsden added a drop goal in injury time. They will face Exeter College in the final.