Alnwick and Morpeth RFC get early Christmas presents with home wins in the league

Both clubs came away victorious, Alnwick pulling away from Blaydon in the second half to win 31-20, while Morpeth prevented their opponents from getting on the scoresheet and also earned a four-try bonus point for the first time this season in their 29-0 win.

Alnwick’s game also marked Jake Woods’ 50th game for first team.

The first XV were looking to reverse the 24-10 defeat at Blaydon earlier in the season, while Blaydon will have been hoping to do the double over their local rivals.

The game was played in windy conditions, and, after a close first half, Alnwick and Blaydon went in at half time with honours even at 10-10, only for Alnwick to run in another 21 points with an impressive second-half performance. Sam Eggleston was named man of the match.

The result sees Alnwick occupying fifth spot in the Regional 1 North East table with eight wins in their 12 games.

Alnwick 2s also came out on top, beating Blaydon Georgians 30-5, with Ben Courty being named man of the match.

Alnwick are in action again on Boxing Day when they travel to bottom club Berwick.

Morpeth’s tries against West Hartlepool came from Josh Williams and Sam Hornby in the first half before a fine individual try by centre Jake Stephenson, a penalty try and a powerful run and touchdown by Nathan Arkle sealed the bonus points. Kieran Smith kicked a conversion.

This really was a promising Morpeth performance. Williams and Dan Goose were prominent, together with Hus Yilmaz and Chris Johnstone in the forwards, while Stephenson, Arkle and Hornby also made their mark in the backs.

The Scoops man of the match was awarded to two players, Stephenson and Yilmaz.

Morpeth are back in action on Saturday, January 6, when they travel to fourth-placed Durham City, who beat Upper Eden 35-15 on Saturday.

Morpeth beat Durham City 18-12 in the corresponding fixture in September.