TYNEDALE Panthers produced eight players as Northumberland U18 successfully followed up their victory over Cumbria.

They made it two wins from two when Durham visited Tynedale Park, in Corbridge, finishing as 32-5 victors.

The game was closer than the scoreline suggests for large spells, with a try glut in the final 20 minutes seeing Northumberland breeze to the win.

In front of a large and vociferous home crowd, there were seven Panthers in the starting line-up with another one on the bench.

The opening 20 minutes of the game were very tight with both teams having sustained periods of attack.

Northumberland edged the early exchanges with two tries and, for a while, they looked like they might run away with it but Durham fought back to get a try to take the scoreline to 12-5 at half time .

The second half was pretty much one-way traffic with Northumberland playing solid, if unspectacular, rugby for the first 15 minutes, slowly grinding down the visitors and creating the platform to break free in the final 20 minutes.

That is when they produced a breathtaking display of free-flowing rugby, their forwards pressing hard and drawing in the Durham defence to earn the right to spin the ball wide and attack every channel.

Although Durham defended valiantly, they could not keep up with the pace and intensity of Northumberland’s game and the home team won it 32-5 in the end.

Panthers Maisie James (2), Daisy Oliver and Hannah Carter all scored, with Sam Hulme, of Novocastrians, getting the other two tries and a conversion.

Northumberland will be looking to maintain their form when they face Lancashire in Rochdale in two weeks.