Following an excellent win in the Senior County Cup the previous week, Tynedale Raiders kicked off the 'season proper' in near perfect conditions away at old rivals Blaydon in a re-arranged league cup final from last season. The match day squad contained no fewer than 14 ex-Tynedale Colts which is great testament to the club's success and ongoing need to produce home-grown talent.

The game opened at frenetic pace with both teams showing great ambition to play with ball in hand from deep inside their own territory.

Pressure eventually told when a good defensive press in the Blaydon 22 allowed the ball to be turned over and Cam Grant shot over and converted to make the score 7-0 after 15 minutes.

Following this, the Raiders then played their best and most controlled period of the match and for the next 20mins were dominant with some telling breaks and good ball retention. This was rewarded with successfully struck penalties from Cam Grant on 20,25 and 30mins to make the score 16-0 before a great series of phases allowed the tireless John Clarkson to dart over for a score converted by Cam Grant, opening a healthy 23-0 lead on 34minutes.

This seemed to sting Blaydon into action and there followed a series of ultimately unstoppable breaks by their threequarters. The period to half-time was all Blaydon and they ran in 3 tries, 2 of which converted to make it 23-19 at half-time.

The start of the second half saw the Raiders re-assert themselves and following a number of probing attacks, a dominant 5m scrum gave the chance for Ben Blackburn to dot down. 28-19 with 20mins of the match to play, however much like the first half, the young Raiders side lost some focus and composure and Blaydon worked their way back into the game with some strong running and interplay to score a converted try and then a penalty to take the lead for the first time in the match with less than 7 minutes remaining. Both sides continued to press for a crucial further score but ultimately Tynedale came up just short.

The are some tough lessons to be learned for the Raiders side in both game management at crucial times and lapses in defence concentration that will need to be taken forward into the season. Nevertheless, this was a highly competitive and entertaining game played out between 2 excellent second teams and if the standard of match is like this every week all players involved will continue to develop and improve. A great advert for second team rugby.

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