A combined Centurions and Border Park team welcomed their guests from London on a beautiful spring day at Tynedale Park and both sides produced a feast of entertaining rugby with the result in doubt until the final whistle.

Good handling by forwards Rory Craney, his son Ed, Tom Dryden and Ethan McLeod took play deep into opposition territory. This allowed Charlie Richards to switch blind and bulldoze over four would-be tacklers to give the home side an early lead.

The tourists however had talent and pace and hit back quickly with two long-range tries of their own. Callum Foxcroft got his finger tips to the ball in a line out, diverting it to the powerful Charlie Richards who drove close and was able to find the supporting Kael Horton who darted over. This was followed up by more positive play by the Richards brothers, Andrew Murray, who drew defenders and timed a beautiful pass to Liam Pitt who raced over to restore the lead.

Good work by Spencer Tolley on the left wing saw him held just short, Dicky Dunn secured possession and scrum half Ben Horncastle cleverly switched play allowing Charlie Trim to show a clean pair of heels to score on the right flank. This lead was reduced by another fine try to leave the score at half-time, 24 - 21.

The break seemed to invigorate the tourists as they shook off the effects of their long journey and a late night out in Newcastle. In the next twenty minutes they stepped up the pace and created three beautiful tries to reach forty points. Jacob Brown, Ed Coffey, Ali Hopps and Jake Sloan were all able to produce try-saving tackles in defence to prevent a rout.

A combination of dogged determination by the combined home team and a slight "running out of steam" by the visitors allowed Micky Hall and Rory Dixon to reduce the deficit with excellent individual tries. Hammersmith & Fulham bravely rallied and scored a seventh try for a lead 36 - 45 with only ten minutes to go.

Donald Stembridge showed his elusive running skills but was just caught by the real sprinter in the Hammersmith team and just failed to find a pass to his brother Andy who had raced up in support. Joe Richards, working hard as ever in the loose, received a popped pass from Ian Charlton near the half-way line and managed to beat off defenders to score. The conversion reduced the lead twp points.

At this point in the game, the tourists opted for attacking options from three penalties when they might have sealed the victory. They later explained that their own touring rules would not allow them to kick for goal. This bravado led to their undoing as, in the last two minutes, Joe Richards and Micky Hall were each able to score their second tries to give the victory to the combined Tyne and North Tyne team but, Hammersmith and Fulham contributed fully in a wonderful game.