Darlington Mowden Park kept up the chase to leaders Coventry with an entertaining 55-24 win over a spirited Old Albanians side, their tenth straight home win this season.

Mowden scored their first try inside the first minute. Grant Connon broke clear to find Warren Seals, who fed Matt Dudman for his first try of the season.

Albanians hit back soon after with a try of their own through lock Ross Hamilton, before Mowden put the game to bed in an impressive spell before half time, with four tries in 25 minutes.

Callum Mackenzie crossed in the corner, Brett Connon found a gap in the defence to dot down the third.

The bonus point try came as a series of drives resulted in Alfie Barron crossing for his first try of the season. Dudman got the fifth following a powerful line break from Joe Craggs to make it 33-5 at the break.

Mowden’s sixth try came when Chris McTurk, who impressed on his first start since September, chipped ahead for Grant Connon to gather, with the full back chipping through once more for brother Grant to collect and register his fifth try in the last three games.

OAs fought back with tries from Bridger and Thompson before Mowden scored through Mackenzie in the corner. Ben Frankland’s try took Mowden past the 50-point mark, before Old Albanians crossed after phases of pressure to secure a deserved losing bonus point.

DMP Sharks went down 15-10 to Richmond, tries from Rianna Manson and Linzi Taylor were enough to secure a losing bonus point.