Seaton opened the scoring before a Bishop hand was laid on the ball. Danny Wilson's towering kick-offwas claimed by the forwards and shipped along the three-quarter line to winger Mark Robinson.He cut inside to straighten the line and man-of-the match James Lindsay looped to the outside totouch down for a first minute unconverted try. Bishop took control in all departments for the nextten minutes and their forwards mauled over for a well deserved converted try.
Despite Bishop's ascendancy in the set pieces, Seaton obtained enough possession to pose a serious threat but neitherside could find the finishing touch. Bishop were held up over the line on one occasion and a Peter Storey try was disallowed on another, leaving the score at 7-5 going into the interval. A series of misdemeanours put the seasiders on to the back foot from the restart and Bishop extended theirlead with a penalty on the forty fifth minute. Stout home defending blunted a series of Seaton attacks, with the visitors eventually being held up over the line. But, when Dan Charlton released his backs by taking a quick tap penalty on the half way line, the home defence could not stop Lindsay from levelling the scores with a sixtieth minute unconverted try. Each side squandered scoring opportunities by taking wrong options but, with five minutes remaining, Bishop were adjudged to have collapsed a five metre scrum and Charlton took advantage of the confusion to dart over for the final score.
Bishop Auckland 10 - Seaton Carew 15