Darlington 10 Nuneaton 16
Nuneaton survived their worst performance of the season to preserve their unbeaten record with a 16-10 win at Darlington.
But on a partlywaterlogged pitch the league leaders had to over-come a 10-3 half-time deficit.
In a fractious contest which contained several handbagging dust-ups, new assistant coach Tim Stimpson, the former Leeds, Leicester and England full-back, made his Nuns debut.
Although Stimpson arrives with a fine reputation as a kicker, Gareth Cull retained the duties and rewarded director of rugby Chris Tarbuck with his second consecutive flawless display.
Cull's fourth-minute effort opened the scoring but Darlington's tough approach caused spills which led to two home tries.
A tenth-minute Darling-ton counter-attack and exchange of passes with No 8 Alan Brown led to a try for full-back Apeni Kororua which was not converted. Neither was the 34th-minute score by Frankie Coulson when Nuns again lost possession.
It was different after the break as Nuns exerted frequent pressure and Cull put over two penalties around the hour mark.
Finally, Stimpson got the ball in his own 22, broke through the front line of defence and Simon Brocklehurst sent Lee Parry in for the score. Cull converted what was the 18-year-old's ninth try in 11 games.
