Newton Aycliffe Rugby Club guaranteed themselves a 3rd place finish in Durham and Northumberland Division 3 with an excellent win at home to mid-table Washington.  The good weather suited the Aycliffe back line with it’s abundance of pace.
Aycliffe began quickly and good work by the forwards ended with Andy Littlefair going over for the try in the corner.  Soon after a superb move in which the backs rapidly interchanged the ball whilst ripping holes in the Washington defence saw Luke Crossen cross for a second try; Dan Montgomery added the conversion.  Washington came back into the game; using their powerful scrum they moved deep into Aycliffe territory, a number of scrums close to the line almost resulted in points but eventually, Aycliffe were able to clear the ball.
A pick up from Number 8 by Craig Holmes saw Warren Parsonage break away and Littlefair finished off the move. Straight from the kick-off, Liam Kelly ran the ball back, the forwards kept the ball alive with good offloads and attacking runs until Parsonage was able to end the move with a score in the opposite corner.  The final try of the half came from another Parsonage break; this time Jonny Griffith was cutting back on an excellent line and the defence had no answer.  The score at the break was 27 – 0.
In the second period, Aycliffe applied further pressure and a further six tries were scored. Parsonage added his second after good work from Mikey Dunn and Montgomery before Paul O’Donnell scored his first for the club.  Littlefair added another to complete a hat-trick and Dunn, Chris Richards and Adam Gascoigne also crossed the whitewash with Gascoigne converting the final two for a 61 – 0 win.
This was probably Aycliffe’s best performance of the season with the loose play of the forwards complementing the speed of the backs.  Aycliffe finish off the league season with a trip to champions Whitby on 18th April.  The kick-off is 3pm. Aycliffe Rugby is sponsored by S Cars, Smufitt Kappa and Whitehouse Funeral Service.