From the very first play, Seaton conceded a penalty in front of the posts and Hartlepool duly took the three points.  Five minutes later, poor handling gifted an interception to Hartlepool and they crossed for their first try. The strong down-field wind made a lottery out of place kicking and they were unable to add the conversion. 

A second interception pinned the visitors into their twenty-two and, after a series of scrums, in which Hartlepool gained the upper hand, the home stand-off jinked over close to the posts for a converted try.  Seaton mounted a rare attack, in which Murry Stockdale was particularly prominent, but lost a five metre line-out against the throw.  They were then unable to defend a raking, wind assisted clearance kick and  Jason Norman pounced for an eighteenth minute  unconverted try.

Seaton had their moments but the home defence was up to the task and they made good use of the wind advantage to clear their lines. It wasn't until the thirtieth minute that the seasiders opened their account when Kevin Tumilty finished off an irresistible driving maul.  Almost immediately, however, the hosts struck back. From a quickly taken five metre tap penalty, they added try number four to take a well deserved 25-5 lead into the interval.

Hartlepool gained the initiative from the re-start and only two try saving tackles from full-back Keith Grazier prevented them from increasing the lead. A Lewis Humble clearance kick enabled Seaton to apply some pressure in the home twenty-two but they could find no way through the Hartlepool defence.  On the sixtieth minute, Seaton were turned over and, moving the ball wide, Hartlepool stormed forward to touch down in the corner. 

In the last twenty minutes, Seaton produced some brighter work but poor handling let them down.  Just before full time, however, a series of penalty decisions drove Hartlepool back to their five metre line and David Grazier was mauled over for a late consolation try for the visitors.