THE absence of four players at the Dubai Sevens allowed Blaydon to keep some of their fringe players involved and they came away with a 24-14 win from Southend.

Charlie Rayner took his chance at full back with a good try, while two others they signed from Mowden Park, twins Chris and James Clark, contributed well when they went on for the last 20 minutes.

Peter Phelan also had a lively debut at scrum half, while fly half Richard Windle was in excellent kicking form.

Ross Batty’s absence in Dubai meant hooker Matt Hall had to defy a shoulder injury, but he took several strikes against the head as Blaydon dominated the scrums.

They were on top for the first eight minutes, but Southend went ahead through their first attack before Windle landed a longrange penalty.

On a wet ground Blaydon opted to use his kicking rather than pursue their usual running game, but they gambled on taking a scrum from a penalty under the posts. They moved the ball left then switched it back for Rayner to cut through and score.

The 10-7 interval lead was stretched by a try for winger Ben Mercer, then No 8 Jason Smithson rumbled over from the back of a scrum and Windle added his third conversion.

Although Southend’s second converted try got the gap down to ten points, the fresh legs Blaydon sent on helped them to stay in control.

Tynedale had Tim Visser available from Newcastle and he scored two tries in their 24-15 win at home to Stourbridge.

With ex-Falcons winger James Hoyle also crossing twice the bonus point took them two ahead of Blaydon in fifth place.

It was a tight game at 12-8 until Visser’s second try in the 67th minute, his first having come when full back Jack Harrison pounced on a mistake and cut through to send the centre over.

When Hoyle raced over for his second try, with Gavin Beasley adding his second conversion, Tynedale were far enough ahead for Stourbridge’s late try to be a mere consolation.

Darlington remain bottom of North One after a 23-13 home defeat by Cleckheaton, who included five South Africans.

Darlington competed well up front, enjoying more than their share of possession, and were level at 8-8 until they conceded two tries and a penalty in seven minutes midway through the second half.

Both the home tries came from forwards appearing in the backs, lock Chris Palesci powering through a gap for the first after 29 minutes.

Full back Alex Lineton added a penalty in the second half and the final try came from prop Dave Tunstead after a series of rucks.

Middlesbrough turned recent performances on their head by starting strongly at Morley before fading badly to lose 31-3. The Bradshaw brothers, Karl and Simon, shared five tries on the home wings, three of them coming while Boro fly half Simon O’- Farrell was in the sin-bin.

He had kicked a penalty to keep the gap down to 7-3 at half-time but it had stretched to 14-3 by the time he was yellow- carded for a high tackle.

Boro had defended well until then, but Morley clinically exploited their extra man.

Westoe remain second on points difference but opened up a four-point lead on thirdplaced Sheffield Tigers by beating them 20-16 at South Shields.

In a fierce forward battle, Westoe were grateful for a length-of-the-field interception try by prolific winger Willy Moala as they led 10-8 at half-time.

They were in luck again when a clearance rebounded off Graeme Haswell to replacement flanker Oliver Stedman, who raced over.

Sam Rasch added his second conversion, then his second penalty gave Westoe a big enough cushion to withstand the Tigers’ late rally.

Full back Iain Dixon scored three of West Hartlepool’s six tries in a 36-17 home win against Beverley.

His first two produced a 10- 3 interval lead, which would have been more had Paul Moss not been off form with the boot. But ten minutes after half-time he made a good break to set up a try for winger Colin Cheslin.

Scrum half David Tighe and replacement prop Adam Coates also touched down amd Moss managed three second half conversions.

Billingham slipped below hosts Sandal into fourth place in North Two East after a 16-7 defeat.

An off-the-ball collision saw Peter Evans leave the field after ten minutes to be replaced by Paul Shepherd, but they trailed by only three points at the break.

A careless error then allowed a Sandal back to pick up and score a converted try and they added two penalties before Billingham fought back.

Paul Woodhouse and Brett Wildridge made the running for Chris Hyndman to send his brother Anth over, with Joe Evans converting.

Hartlepool Rovers consolidated top spot in Durham and Northumberland One when they scored five tries in each half to beat depleted Stockton 66-3.