The Centurions were able to travel with a useful side and build on their confidence boosting win of the previous week. Shields had a strong, heavy pack and the forwards had to work hard to provide ammunition for their talented back division.

Jeff Wheallans, playing out of position at prop, showed his back row mobility to feed Martyn Hutton who powered over for an early score. Some good foraging work by Spencer Tolley and Kael Horton allowed half-backs Andy Harvey and Jake Sloan to provide quick ball near the half-way line. A classic passing movement between Hutton, Jack Allen and Rory Dixon released full-back Donald Stembridge who cruised in. Robbie Binks and Oliver Shrimpton battled well for possession before Ian Charlton threw an outrageous long pass that Ethan McLeod managed to miraculously pluck out of the air and feed the ever-dangerous Stembridge to land his second try. Hugh Holland-Creaven then drove close and the alert Dixon was on hand to scoot around defenders and touch down.

Shocked by the free-running Centurions, the home side looked for field position to release their powerful pack and were rewarded with a try following a well-driven scrum. This pressure to climb back into the game was relieved as Oliver Hillary jinked through and linked with Dixon who beat several defenders to score his second try. Two conversions by Allen saw the half-time score 7-29 in favour of the Centurions who had the strong wind to help in the second half.

The dogged Seasiders were re-invigorated by the break and had a twenty-minute period of domination when they scored two tries, the second by Tynedale's Hutton who had sportingly switched teams to cover for an injured player. He received a beautifully timed pass from Rob Earnshaw who obviously hadn't spotted the change of shirt! Stembridge had briefly relieved this siege by chasing a long defensive kick to pick up and claim his hat-trick.

At 19-34, Shields were back in the game but their forwards began to flag and the Centurions re-asserted. Newcomer James Clark and Callum Foxcroft went close before good line out ball from Horton was driven by Hillary. Jonny Pape and Jason Armstrong were quick to secure the ruck and the latter forced his way over. Late in the game the well-balanced running of Stembridge saw him land his fourth try and then, from the kick-off, Hillary gathered and ran through tired defenders to touch down. The impressive Allen converted the final three tries that made the final scoreline feel comfortable but didn't reflect the brave performance of the Crusaders.

Martin Hastie