A STUNNING second half performance saw Tynedale register their first maximum points win of the season on Saturday.

And playing a key role in the success was a man whose glittering career with the club appeared to be well and truly over.

At the age of 36, back row forward Jamie Murray’s first team days seemed so far behind him his face does not even appear in the rogues’ gallery in the match day programme.

He and brother Andrew were stalwarts for over a decade, but the demands of running a farm on the Roman Wall were thought to have kicked rugby into touch.

But Jamie, whose name was not even among the replacements in the programme, appeared from the bench as Tynedale were trailing to a large South Leicester outfit by a significant margin.

And it was soon as though he had never been away, as the pack, which had occasionally been struggling, suddenly started holding its own.

There was of course a happy ending for the prodigal, as he scored the try that put Tynedale ahead, and led to their second consecutive home victory.

It was far from a one-man show though as, after a shaky first half, the whole side played with power and purpose to completely dominate the last 20 minutes.

Man of the match was number eight Scott Powell, who ran tirelessly from the base of the scrum, and victory would not have been achieved without the kicking of centre Ashley Smith, who landed a perfect six kicks out of six.

Smith has a curious stop-start technique in his run-up,virtually inviting opponents to charge down his conversions, but on Saturday, he timed it just right.

There was still no Andy Buist in the pack for Tynedale, and with Matty Charters also missing, the signs were ominous against a Leicester side with close links with Premiership Leicester Tigers, and Nottingham.

The Tynedale faithful feared the worst in the opening period, when in the first scrum Tynedale were propelled backwards at a giddying rate, and numerous tackles were missed.

They seemed in danger of being steam-rollered into the mud by a very large South Leicester pack, and five minutes into the second half all seemed lost as they trailed 24-13.

However, the South Leicester forwards started to wallow, believing the job was done, while Tynedale got stronger and stronger, and finished well on top.

Tynedale started well, and took an early lead with a Smith penalty from wide out on the 10 metre line. It seemed to have dropped short, but after a consultation, the touch judges’s flags went up for the three points.

South Leicester’s tactics were crude but effective - either trundle through the middle with their juggernaut of a pack, or kick wide to capitalise on the flaring pace of their wingers.

Both tactics were used to good effect in response to Tynedale’s early score. First Tynedale were propelled back over their own line at a rate of knots for a try under the posts,by scrum half Chris Gibbs with fly half Ricky Aley converting.

Smith got a second penalty, but on 18 minutes, Aley’s chip bounced kindly for winger Calum Gunn to gather and skate in under the posts for Aley to convert.

Aley extended the lead with a penalty on 28 minutes before Tynedale prop Ben Haigh, preferred at loose head prop to the immortal Peter Southern, muscled his way over his way over for Smith to convert to make it 13-17 at the break.

Haigh was then yellow carded, but Tynedale’s 14 men hung on well, as South Leicester ignored several simple penalty chances to go for higher scores but were kept at bay by some great defence.

The defence finally cracked five minutes into the second half, when flanker Fred Tuilagi battered his way over, Aley’s conversion making it 24-13.

However, Tynedale came roaring back, applying such sustained pressure that South Leicester prop David Peck picked up a yellow card.

They poured forward with a well worked try for winger James Clark, before Murray rolled back the years with a typical touchdown from the base of driving maul from a line-out.

That edged Tynedale ahead at 25-24 with 15 minutes left, Smith’s conversion extending their lead.

There was a lot of nail-biting going on, before the last move of the game, flanker Nick Cairns, who had a great game, stormed through from 15 yards to touch down.

Smith maintained his 100 per cent record with the boot to seal a memorable win in what had been a cracking game.

The victory saw them move up one spot in the table, but fellow strugglers Huddersfield and Preston also won.