Alnwick RFC 2s beat Ashington to go through to the next round of the Northumberland Senior County Plate

The seconds travelled to Ashington for a Northumberland Senior County Plate game, their fitness telling in the end as they ran out 29-12 winners after touching down three times in the last 25 minutes.

Saturday’s opponents are the defending champions after winning the competition last year when they beat Northern Wanderers.

Ashington were first to get points on the board with a penalty, but two penalty kicks for the visitors saw Alnwick take a 6-3 lead.

Alnwick had a couple of opportunities to touch down but a combination of good defending by Ashington and fumbled passes saw the chances spurned. Instead, the two teams traded penalty kicks to see them go in at half time with Alnwick 9-6 ahead.

The home team came out strongly at the start of the second half and converted a couple of penalty kicks to take a 12-9 lead. However, Alnwick’s fitness told and an Ashington side disrupted by injuries conceded three tries as Alnwick 2s progressed to the next round.

Alnwick first XV are back in league action on Saturday when they take on Scunthorpe at home and the seconds are at home against Middlesbrough Wasps in the CaNDY league.

Alnwick and Scunthorpe have only ever met twice in the league previously, Alnwick winning both times. The most recent meeting, in January, saw Alnwick win by 43-22. Scunthorpe, who are bottom of the league, are on a bad run of form, having won only one of their last five league games, while Alnwick have won three out of five.

Morpeth also play against a team at the bottom of the league when they travel to Cockermouth on Saturday. Cockermouth have yet to win in the Regional North 2 league this season and lost 12-41 to Keswick in their last outing. Morpeth will be hoping to get back to winning ways after a run of defeats, including a 24-21 defeat against Aspatria in their last game. Currently, Morpeth are seventh in the table. Kick off is at 2pm.