On a perfect autumn afternoon an unbalanced Centurions side were under pressure from the start as they tried to mould eight front row forwards and three club debutants into a cohesive unit.

This proved a difficult task in the first half as a talented Ponteland back division took full advantage and ran in seven well-constructed tries despite a shift of last-ditch defending by Josh Scollick, Shaun Taylor, Matt Lynch and Martyn Hutton.

The forward battle was much more even with Ian Charlton and emergency scrum-half Jake Sloan jumping in the line to win their own ball and the selected front row of Rory Craney, Robbie Binks and Ed Weir having the edge in the scrum. This provided their best platform and forward charges by Jonny Pape and Brogan Millar were held just short before this pressure was converted into a deserved try for Kieran Adams set up by the industrious Adam Telfer.

This left the score at the break as 5-47 in favour of the visitors and what appeared to be a long, hard slog ahead in the second half.

However, a long discussion about tactics and a reshuffle that saw prop Adam Telfer and hooker Adam Binks switched into the centres saw a huge turnaround in fortunes. A tighter defence, much more support play and some powerful running saw Tynedale score three unanswered tries in this period.

A brave tackle by Scollick allowed Sloan to break, feed Hutton, who ran well to touch down with the scorer adding the conversion. The abrasive Millar set off on a powerful break and twisted and turned out of several tackles for a fine score before "centres" Binks and Telfer combined well in midfield allowing the latter crash over the line.

This brave second half come-back allowed a rather disparate group to finish the game with some pride restored.