Bishop Auckland Rugby Club Ladies had their latest run out against a strong Barnsley side.

From kick-off Barnsley made a number of strong attacks, but Bishop’s defence remained strong with a number of crunching tackles, not least by Emily Gallone on her debut, as well as Laura Haley in the centre.

After weathering this storm, Bishop turned to the attack and, marshalled by scrum-half Judy Williams they made inroads, but were unable to find the support for the final pass. Jenny Todd and Laura Gibbon were both involved in a number of breaks.

As the half wore on, Barnsley were able to score a try in the corner and their stand-off potted a fine conversion into the wind for a 7-0 lead. Bishop continued to put in mighty hits with Chaya Blackett coming out on top of a crunching collision at full back. Before the break, a second converted try saw Barnsley turn around 14-0 ahead.

Better organisation of the visitors saw them score three more tries in the second half for a 29-0 victory, but Bishop put up a fine performance and Barnsley will certainly have felt the bruises on their way back to South Yorkshire.

Sarah Sowerby led the team with her usual enthusiasm and Louise Northwood put in a fine stint at prop for the full 80 minutes. The return will be played at Barnsley on April 12.

Team: Sarah Sowerby, Emma Hodgson, Louise Northwood, Jenny Todd, Sarah Bell Freeman, Beth Gorton, Chloe Curry, Kate Hodgson, Judy Williams, Emma Quinn, Laura Haley, Laura Gibbon, Emily Gallone, Abigail Potts, Chaya Blackett, Becca Butler, Hannah Mulholland, Sarah Williams

The Under-13s were held to a 22-22 draw by Darlington.

Darlington kicked off, with Bishop catching well, but were immediately pounced on by Darlington's back line, rolled Bishop over, and the ball worked its way through a couple of opposition players before being deposited across the try line for a five-nil lead within the first two minutes.

Through a number of plays down the centre the scrum set a stable platform for Ben to make a penetrating run, Liam picked up at the breakdown and beat one player to sprint across the line under the posts. Bishop then took the lead through Ben's conversion.

Half way through the half a number of small errors (knock ons, dropping catches) allowed the opposition to pick up a loose ball. Their outside centre ploughed his way through to score and take the lead; the try was not converted.

Bishop immediately responded. Ben lofted the drop kick just over the 10m line that allowed the forwards to sack the ball from Darlington. A succession of driving mauls, short runs and second phase ball saw Bishop 5m from the goal line. With Luke at the centre of a gaggle of players, Jordan, Will's Busby and Barker, Liam, Josh and Nicolas all worked together to drive the pack over the line. The try was awarded, but not converted.

As the half drew to an end, several basic errors in ball handling allowed Darlington to pick up and run in their third try, ending the half 15-12 in Darlington's favour.

Bishops strength in the first half was the scrum, with excellent and consistent hooking from Nicholas. Using this position of dominance at a scrum 10m out on the right hand side, Jordan picked up and drove down the blind side to score; again the conversion from a tight angle was missed.

The forwards discipline was good to watch, Ritchie and Mathew adding their weight to the pack forced Darlington to make an error awarding Bishop a penalty just over halfway. Ben kicked for touch, creating a lineout 2m out. Through a classic line out move and call, Jordon rose above his opposite number, crashed through to score in the corner; no conversion. Bishop were now in the lead with a seven point advantage at 15-22.

Darlington raised their game, forced another error and scored and converted. Aidan pulled off a centre's cross over move, but was stopped and suffered a black eye for his efforts.

Ben and Luke were named Man if the Match