Tynedale pulled off a tremendous hat-trick when we won the Senior Cup, the Senior Shield and the Junior Cup - just missing out as defeated finalists in the final of the Junior Challenge Cup.
To add to the silverware we also won the Senior County Sevens, defeating Northern 26-5 in the final, and won the Persimmon Homes Sevens, defeating "The Shipwrecks" from the South pacific 41-12 in the final.
Tynedale 1stXV 41 v Berwick 13 (at Northern)
Tynedale Raiders 13 v Berwick Bears 6 (at Morpeth)
Border Park 16 v Tynedale Grasshoppers 28 (at Border Park)
Tynedale Veterans 8 v Newcastel University III 22 (at Ashington)
Tynedale Raiders 13 v Berwick 6 (Sunday March 20th 2005)
Tynedale Raiders won the Northumberland Senior Shield beating Berwick Bears 13-6 in a well contested final at Morpeth. Both sides gave their all but the Raiders had the edge and led 13-3 at half time through a couple of penalties from Simon Allen and an excellently worked try from Jamie Harrison.
Neither side was able to gain the upper hand in the second half and Berwick caused Tynedale nerves to jangle when they kicked a penalty with only four minutes of normal time left.
(Final of Junior Challenge Shield - Saturday 19th March 2005)
Question, what's the difference between a student rugby player and a veteran rugby player? Some people would say age, some would say weight, others may say fitness, or experience, or Body Mass Index or a secret passion for Kylie Minogue or simply everything. And they'd all be right. But last Saturday at Ashington in the Northumberland 5th team cup final the biggest difference was luck. Tynedale, unlucky to have a front row injury very early in the game. University lucky to have their second team playing at the same venue for a handy source of substitutes. Tynedale, unlucky not to have skipper Clive Chadwick available due to the change in date for the game. University, lucky that from a kick through and a freakish bounce the ball landed nicely in the arms of a student for their opening try. Tynedale, unlucky that Clayton-Hibbott's first try was disallowed for a double movement.
This being the second game in a week for most of the veterans side, the dressing room preparations looked more like an army field hospital with tape, linament and Vaseline being used by the lorry load to ensure body parts remained in place. RP2 was even heard shouting for suntan lotion, no doubt to protect against the balmy spring sun, a highly sensible recommendation for any younger players.
The game plan was set, nine man rugby was the order of the day from captain Richard Jones and all that was needed was co-operation from the students. The start of the game saw the Vets facing a moderate breeze and it was apparent from the start that both sides were up for the challenge. The early exchanges saw the sides evenly matched which surprised the Vets front row of Marc Conley, RP2 and Angus Whitelaw who had expected to dominate. It was during one of these early scrums that Marc suffered what appeared to be a serious neck injury and despite the soft, healing hands of part time physio and back row Dave Nichols, had to leave the field and was taken to Wansbeck Hospital. X-rays proved inconclusive due to Marc's "odd shape" so he needed a scan which, the doctor said," is usually done to show peoples brains but in Marc's case would only show his neck". Fortunately there was no skeletal damage and he was allowed home later that night, however it is more than likely that this was his last game.
A re-shuffle saw Colin Macdonnald take up the loose head berth and after a couple more scrums the front row domination did start to take effect, with Fergus Mitchell and Richard Jones providing drive from the second row. Both teams were handling the ball well with the Uni in particular running through a large repertoire of well rehearsed back line moves but each time the Vets defensive line held firm, with Rod Wallace and Scott Ferguson putting in some massive hits. Realising they could not break the defence, the Uni chipped over the top and cue freakish bounce they went up 7-0.
The re-start saw a great take and drive with the Vets back row of Charlton, Mainwaring and Nichols rampaging up the field oozing more testosterone than an arena full of young men watching Kylie Minogue perform. The drive took them all the way to the students try line and it was Simon "with the hyphen but not from Corbridge" Clayton-Hibbott that made the final lunge for the line but was adjudged to have made a double movement. The Uni's next passage of play took them up to the 10 metre line where a series of back line moves eventually found the overlap for their second try taking the score to 12-0, quickly followed by a penalty. The vets took play to the students try line again but had to settle for a penalty as the half ended.
With the breeze at their backs Tynedale started confidently playing down to the corners, where they set up camp for most of the half but despite the battering runs and the outside pace of Craig Johnson, Graeme Dodds and Jon Standish at full back, just couldn't break the defensive line until finally, after a quickly taken penalty Hibby forced himself over in the corner taking the score to 15-8.
From the re-start the majestic Richard Cramb, clearly still possessing so much talent and composure, effortlessly kicked the students back to their goal line and again the Vets laid siege to the line, Angus Whitelaw in particular having a man of the match period but with time running out and Tynedale forcing the game a student interception try sealed the win for the University.
Special mention must go to reserves Ian Lewis, Geoff Sloan, Neil McPherson, Andy Murray and John Eustace who, if truth be known, thought the bench a much more sensible option than the pitch. Reaching a cup final in a sides first year is no mean feat and with a sponsor lined up for next season it is hoped that the side will go from strength to strength, especially as most of the players seem to be enjoying the social side as well as the rugby, with only one player leaving early after the game, Jonny Mainwaring. We hope you enjoyed Kylie. A special thank you must also go to Northumberland Rugby Union who presented all the players with medals this year, a nice gesture.
Tynedale full back Will Massey's string of fine performances were acknowledged by fellow club's in National Three (North) when he was awarded the league's "Player of the Month" award for December.
The following extract was taken from the RFU's website:-
"Tynedale’s William Massey in his first season of Senior rugby at Tynedale has made an immediate impact with a string of impressive performances in a side that has done remarkable well after losing a number of player either leaving the club or through injury.
Massey has been playing at full back and with normal goal kicker Phil Belgian out injured he ha taken over the goal kicking duties as well and came second in the kicking stats for December behind the highly impressive Tom Rhodes. He has a great try scoring record in the league this season with nine tries in 12 matches.
He has stepped up to first team rugby really well and apart from good hands he has pace as well and proved a welcome boost to the first VX this season."
The Northumbeland Under 20's squad includes a good representation of Tynedale players this season:-
On Sunday 30th January they opened up their their County Championship campaign against Lancashire (at Preston) with an excellent 36-28 victory.
This was followed with a home match against defending County Champions Yorkshire on Sunday 6th February (at Northern) which they lost narrowly by 9-14 - going down to a Yorkshire try in the dying minutes.
They then travelled to Birkenhead Park where they were second best against a strong Cheshire side before defeating Durham 29-7 at a match played at Tynedale on March 6th.
Friday 8th October 2004
Jack Harrison and Matthew Fieldhouse left for New Zealand where they will be living in Warkworth near Auckland. They have been sent by the Newcastle Falcons Academy and will be away until July 2005. They will play for Mahurangi RFC under the guidance of Paul Mckinnon, ex Academy Director at Newcastle Falcons and now Director of Sport at the North Harbour Institute.
There are 8 lads in his Academy where they will live, train, work and eventually play together when the season starts in March next year. The other 6 ,all Brits hail from Northern Ireland ,Devon , Cornwall, and the South East.
The lads are planning to visit ex-QEHS school mate Mikey Woodhouse in Papua New Guinea whilst they are away
If anyone is travelling out there or may be in the vicinity please contact Mike Fieldhouse for their contact details.
The club are fielding a 'veterans' side this season. John Eustace and Ian Lewis have got their heads together and the response to their pleading and bullying has been extremely positive.
The idea is that the Veterans will turn out roughly once a month, giving time for old worn muscles and joints to recover and also preventing players becoming 'tired' and lethargic from playing too many games!
The Veterans played their second match on October 23rd when they lost 19-31 in a good competitive match against Prudhoe & Stocksfield.
The Veterans hosted a Novos side on December 18th when a good time was had by all. Among the "veterans" were Richard Cramb, Simon Clayton-Hibbott and Richard Parker II who not surprisingly was yellow carded during the match. The Veterans squad left immediately after the match to begin preparations for their Cup match against North Shields on January 15th 2005.
Tom Borthwick was appointed as head coach at Tynedale for season 2004-2005 and has agreed to continue for 2005-2006.
Tom played all his rugby for Aspatria and Cumbria as a full back or stand off. In 1990 he secured his level 4 RFU coaching qualification and took over as coach of Aspatria. During the next two seasons Aspatria secured successive promotions into National Level 3.
In 1996 Tom took over as Cumbria coach and in his first season Cumbria defeated Somerset in the final of the County Championship. Between 2002 and 2004 Tom has been assistand England Counties coach and currently carries out various coaching duties on behalf of the English RFU.
|
|
2003/2004 |
2004/2005 |
|
Number in squad |
40 |
40 |
|
Average Age |
24.3 years |
24.5years |
|
Number of Backs |
17 |
14 |
|
Average age of backs |
22 years |
23.2 years |
|
Number of forwards |
23 |
26 |
|
Average age of forwards |
26 years |
24.8 years |
|
Members over 6ft tall |
22 (55%) |
21 (52.5%) |
|
Members over 16 stone |
12 (30%) |
12 (30%) |
|
Number who played mini rugby at Tynedale |
14 (35%) |
17 (42.5%) |
|
Number who played junior rugby at Tynedale |
14 (35%) |
18 (45%) |
|
Number who played Colts rugby at Tynedale |
16 (40%) |
19 (47.5%) |
|
Number who played for Tynedale before 2000 |
25 (62%) |
28 (70%) |
|
Number of Farmers |
8 (20%) |
10 (25%) |
|
Number of Students |
11 (27.5%) |
13 (32.5%) |
|
Married |
6 |
4 |
|
Number who have represented Northumberland Senior County |
17 |
18 |
Season 2003-2004
Season 2002-2003
Season 2001-2002 (End of Season))
Click to view full details of 1st XV appearances (2001-2002)
Season 2000-2001
38 different players represented the 1stXV (from 22 matches) whilst 67 different players represented the Raiders (from 18 matches).
The 1stXV's top points scorer was Alan 'Remi' Moses with 206 points (including 6 drop goals) whilst the top try scorer was Simon Clayton-Hibbott with 7 tries.
For the Raiders, Simon Allen was top points scorer with 101 points whilst Paul Rigby was top try scorers with 9 tries.
Colston College again won the Tournament defeating Cistertian College, Rossgrey in the final. In the semi-final Colston drew 3-3 with home side 'Tynedale Schools' only for Colston to reach the final on the toss of a coin.
The following Schools entered:
Uncertainty as to the number of teams to be relegated from our league caused by the "cascade" effect has been removed by changes announced by the RFU Competition sub-committee. From our league (National 3 North) A MAXIMUM OF THREE CLUBS WILL ALWAYS BE RELEGATED regardless of who is relegated from the league above.
Thats the easy bit!!
The more complicated bit concerns how this is achieved - in order to sustain this change it may be necessary for a minimal number of clubs to move across ("level transfer") into a neighbouring league outside of their normal Constituent Body. (eg. If the bottom three teams in the league above us are all southern teams then to balance the leagues one or two clubs will be "level transferred" from National Three South into our league (National Three North) ). In the absence of volunteers a panel will be responsible for the decision on which clubs will be moved to another league.
Captains for season 2004-2005 have been appointed as follows:-
Training on Tuesday and Thursday evenings - starts 19:00 prompt.
Tom Borthwick is senior coach, assisted by Dick Parker.
Kirk Barclay is fitness coach.
Alan Gledson coaches the Raiders.