Dan turned up at Westoe with his arm in an uncomfortable looking sling. We wish him all the best in his recovery .. and hope he gets the sling off well before he joins the tour to Barcelona.

Fortunately for the team Paul Miller has recovered from his knee surgery and was just one of several players who returned to the side at Westoe and shone. Mark Cholmondeley playing in his unfavoured tighthead role drew praise from the coaches [yes, they do give it sometimes!] as did Carl Miller.

I wasn't there [I can tell you that Newcastle United are not very good at the moment] but the word is that everyone had a great game with Jon Boatman and his fellow back rows simply superb.

That puts the coaches in the very pleasant position of having lads fighting for places at Darlington. Ryan Phillips is available again, after having to work last week, and Tim Sawyer is back from international duty with England Deaf where, by all accounts, he was one of the star performers in a 24-0 defeat by the Welsh.

Stu Bennett, an ever present on the mobile phone from Cardiff during last week's win, is also recovered from a neck injury and will be chomping at the bit for a game. So will line out King Phil Henderson who has recovered from a virus.

It's only in the backs that we don't now have so much cover but that could change before the February 22 transfer deadline. Watch this space.

Saturday's game will have seven replacements and is important for the club because victory would mean we would probably qualify as a Durham entry in next season's Powergen and that brings a a pay day of a few thousand quid ..... money much needed to refurbish the Pavilion and build a new entrance to keep the planners happy.