Newton Aycliffe Rugby Club recorded their sixth successive victory in Durham and Northumberland Division 3 with a convincing 46 – 3 home win over Richmondshire.
After the previous week’s excellent result, the same players were selected to start this match and they soon imposed themselves on the opposition.
Whilst the scrummage was not as dominant, the lineout was this time a productive source of possession.  The first score came after Ronnie Gilyeat took a catch at an attacking line, a maul was formed and Andy Littlefair broke clear down the blindside to score.  Luke Tinkler added a good conversion.
The Aycliffe backs looked dangerous when they played simple rugby and inside centre Darrell McLaren scored two tries before the half was up with Tinkler converting one.  Before the half was over, Tinkler had added a penalty goal to leave the score 22 – 0.
Aycliffe made some substitutions at half time, but it was business as usual as the pace of Adam Gascoigne saw him increase the lead and Littlefair added his second before Richmondshire finally got on the scoreboard from a penalty.  Gascoigne added his second and Sam Daltry had a try disallowed to give Aycliffe a 41 – 3 lead.  The visitors had refused to give up all game, and they now camped themselves in Aycliffe’s 22 for almost 10 minutes.
On a number of occasions, they seemed bound to score but they were marginally short as Aycliffe were determined to stop their line being breached.  Finally, Aycliffe were able to break out and they were scored the final try with the first score of the season for Chris Wilson who stepped inside two players off the wing.  At the end, the score was 46 – 3 to Aycliffe.
The result, together with good wins for the teams above them, make it look likely the Aycliffe will finish the season in third place in the league, but they still have difficult games to come and will hope that other sides slip up.
On 15 March, Aycliffe visit bottom of the table Jarrovians.  Newton Aycliffe are sponsored by Boola Clothing Aycliffe and Hayward Home Appliances, trading as Serviceforce  Visit the website at www.pitchero.com/clubs/newtonaycliffe.