AFTER a few anxious months of waiting on the RFU’s decision, Ponteland were celebrating capturing the Durham and Northumberland II league title.

Having led their closest rivals Guisborough and Sunderland by five points in a closely fought contest, the Maroons were declared champions of the division after the outcome of all leagues were decided by calculating points based on games played.

During head coach Paul Gerrard’s debut season, Pont had won 20 of their 22 league games, with both their defeats coming at home. They will be promoted to the higher division.

They were odds on to surpass the 1,000 points scored total from their remaining four games left to play, finishing on 937 from 22 games.

Gerrard said: “I am pleased to have won promotion. Both the club and the players need to aspire to be the best that we can be.

“In the end, it was our 22 bonus points that proved decisive.

“We regularly scored four or more tries a game and, in both the games that we lost, we still managed to accrue two losing bonus points

“There is no doubt that the standard of teams that play in DN1 will prove much more challenging We will embrace the challenge and continue to set our own expectations in terms of players’ fitness and skill levels.”

In Durham and Northumberland III, Prudhoe and Stocksfield were pleased to improve on their final league position from the 2018-2019 campaign.

They ended in eighth position, two places better off than the previous season.

Of their 17 league games, they won four and ran in a total of 369 points.

However, they conceded 447.