The Centurions were much quicker out of the traps and had scored three tries within ten minutes before the visitors had a chance to settle.

From the kick off, Henry Barnes caught well and broke tackles as he charged forward. Rhys Loughhead continued the rampage upfield before releasing centres Martyn Hutton and Seb Jansen who, in contrast, ran smoothly, drew defenders, and passed efficiently to release Ryan Laverty. The big right winger cut inside the covering fullback and had time to stumble at the five metre line before recovering and touching down under the posts.

Ed Weir and Brogan Millar repeated the previous powerful driving play and this time Ian Charlton stepped in at scrum half, switched direction, allowing Josh Schollick to speed home as the ball was moved beautifully to his left wing. Andy Stembridge then fielded a clearing kick in his own half and raced away down the right wing to score untouched by defenders.

To their great credit Sunderland shook off the effects of their travels and came right back into the game. A misdirected American Football style shotgun pass by the home side, close to their own line, went astray and was punished by a converted try. The response was immediate and from an attacking scrum Leo Cuthbertson, a new face at number 9, produced an outrageous dummy and touch down leaving the score at the break, 28 - 7.

With six replacements available in the second half, Tynedale were able to increase the pace and score at regular intervals. A carbon-copy Cuthbertson score was quickly followed by another as this live-wire secured his hat-trick with a jinking run following excellent scavenging work by relentless flankers Jeff Wheallans and Kael Horton.

With their tails up the Centurions began to play some good running rugby but it still required the battling skills of Dan Tate and Michael Ramsay to wrestle possession from their strong opposing pack. This hard graft allowed the ball to reach mobile hooker Robbie Binks who raced over from 20 metres. Chris Woodburn and Jonny Pape then took a hand to steal the ball and this time Luke Allman showed his pace in a swerving run to touch down in the corner.

The Keelmen, showing great resilience, at last found a way to break down a solid defence. Penalties close to the line were twice caught and driven over for well-deserved tries. The home team however had the final say when Hugh Holland-Creaven finished from close range. The scoring was completed by Allan Hyslop's eighth conversion in a fine kicking display from hand and the tee to complete a comfortable win for a strong Centurions side.