Darlington Mowden Park, whose match at Macclesfield was postponed, should find out next Saturday who are likely to be their chief rivals in North Division One.

That's when Blaydon entertain Chester, both having won their first two matches with Blaydon glorying in a 43-15 triumph at Northern on Saturday.

New Zealander Ryan Roberts had an excellent game at fly half, scoring two of the seven tries and adding four conversions.

He also made the break just before half-time which put fellow Kiwi John Marriott over for a try to make it 19-9 at the interval.

All the Northern points came from kicks and they had the gap down to four points before Blaydon cut loose with four tries in the last quarter.

Wingers Nick Gandy (2) and Andy Savory, plus full back Gareth King all touched down and Blaydon now await the visit of a Chester side who narrowly beat them in the Tetley's Bitter Cup last season before being thrown out for fielding ineligible players.

Mowden had warned Middlesbrough to expect an abrasive challenge at Chester on Saturday, but coach Jon Wrigley said: "They weren't like that at all. They played good rugby."

A try 20 minutes from time proved decisive in Chester's 27-15 win as a scrum wheeled through 90 degrees, the referee awarded the hosts the put-in and their No 8 scored.

"We were always in the game and even after that we put a lot of pressure on," said Wrigley, who was again ruled out by his leg injury.

"We had the better backs and we scored a good try when we moved it out to Wes Henry and he ran round his opposite number and left everybody for dead."

Full back Steve Graham converted and added two penalties, then Wrigley's deputy at scrum half, John Newton, scored from close range after a series of forward drives.

Boro, who have already had one Saturday off, will be idle again next week as scheduled opponents Driffield are in the Tetley's Cup.

Stockton lost 33-10 at Wigton, where they trailed 16-0 at half-time and went further behind before fly half Jeremy Good landed a penalty and converted a penalty try.

West Hartlepool are already marooned at the foot of National Division Two after suffering their third defeat in three games.

They lost 34-3 at home to Newbury, despite a big improvement after trailing 20-0 at half-time.

Centre Mark Thompson twice went close and full back Tom Winney missed an easy penalty before landing the next for West's only points.

Darlington maintained their good start with a 27-15 win at Beverley in North Two (East), where skipper David Andrew played at full back as David Glendenning was ill.

That enabled Robbie Stewart to start at scrum half and he nipped down the blind side from a ruck to score the first try.

Kieron Thompson converted from the touchline, but Beverley scored twice to go 12-7 ahead before Craig Lee cut through the middle to go under the posts.

A Thompson penalty made it 17-12 at half-time, when Dan Miller again went on for Phil Lancaster before a break by Stewart and an interception by Thompson provided two tries for Paul Beattie.

The biggest threat to Darlington again looks likely to come from Halifax, who pipped them for the North-East One title last season. They won 69-3 at home to York, while Redcar's match at home to Goole was postponed.

Durham City made it two wins out of two in Durham and Northumberland One when they won 29-7 at Winlaton.

Full back Richard Adamson scored 14 points from a try, three conversions and a penalty, and also among the try scorers was winger Chris Mattison. He is back with the club from Mowden Park until he decides how seriously he wants to take his rugby.

The half back pairing of Mark McCreaddie and Jon Bland caused a lot of problems, with the former scoring a try, along with skipper and No 8 Paul Price.

In the same division, Westoe welcomed more than 100 ex-players to a lunch to celebrate their 125th anniversary then beat Horden 32-0.

Tynedale's run of 28 successive league victories ended when they lost 16-10 at home to New Brighton in National Three North.

The run started when Tynedale won their last four games the season before last. They were outgunned and trailed 16-3 before a late try.

Of the seven matches due to be staged in Hartlepool, the ones at Rovers, Athletic and BBOB fell foul of the fuel crisis, West lost, TDSOB went down 23-22 to Percy Park, Hartlepool beat Novos 44-10 and West Amateurs lost 9-8 to Seaton Carew