A home tie in the semi final of the Northumberland Junior Challenge Trophy on 1st March awaits the Vets team after a hard fought victory at the seaside. The ever expanding travelling troupe of Tynedale supporters led by top groupie and Rastafarian wannabe Barry Hope had plenty to smile about as the perfect conditions coupled with a fifteen man game plan ensured the ball was used out wide at every opportunity.
Needless to say the game started at a frantic pace with both sides wanting to introduce their backs into every phase of play. Tynedale got the first points on the board with a penalty taken by the ever reliable Alan Moses, with another 100% record, playing at centre this week in order to accommodate a debutant at stand off, John Stokoe. One of John Fletchers back room staff he is better associated with analysing match day videos but his presence was welcome as he controlled the game from start to finish with a calmness akin to past player Richard Cramb. Indeed with such competition for back line places regular Vet Rod Wallace had to be content watching from the sidelines unable to force his way into a starting position.
A swift repost from Rockcliff saw them run in a well constructed try after some unusually sloppy tackling from the Tyne back line. With the game continuing at a frantic pace with neither side gaining the upper hand the experience of the Vets showed when the game plan was adjusted slightly to take some early phases of play around the fringes of the breakdown before releasing the back line with Fergus Mitchell and Graham Yates particularly effective. This, coupled with a solid platform in the scrum from front rows Angus Whitelaw, Richard Parker and Marcus Davison allowed the space needed for first Scott Ferguson then Andy Purvis to run in well deserved tries before half time with a third added by John Fletcher, after a great run from second row medical miracle Dave Nichols who only just passed a late fitness test after recovering from a whole body transplant.
With the lineout being the Vets Achilles heel on this occasion, they decided not to kick the ball away during the second half despite playing with the slope in order to maintain possession, however the half time talk must have been as memorable as one of Brian Ashton's as one minute after the re-start a territorial kick fell straight into the arms of the Rockcliff full back who ran it through the Tyne defence for another score, this time unconverted.
Stern words from team manager John Eustace got the game plan back on track and as the fitness levels of the Rockcliff team began to wane Tynedale upped the pace utilising a mobile back row of Neil Murphy, Ian Charlton and Stu Marshall to full effect and with scrum half Craig Johnson matching Mitchell's man of the match performance further tries were scored by Jon Standish and Fletcher.
Ferguson could have grabbed his second of the game shortly after but could not escape the clutches of Rockcliff's one legged Argentinean visitor who poll axed him in a brave tackle just short of the line.
A late substitution saw Eustace replace Johnson at scrum half and he immediately showed his class. After pinching the ball from the back of a scrum he beat the last line of defence with his trade mark side step before putting on the after burners to score under the posts for the games closing score.