VISITORS to the Hexham branch of Tesco on Saturday morning may have been surprised to see a coachful of burly men disembark and head for the store cafe.

Their accents betrayed the fact they came from the banks of the River Mersey and close scrutiny of their smart jumpers showed they were all members of high-flying Caldy Rugby Club.

Tesco may have seemed an odd spot for pre-match preparations for a side lying fourth in National League Division Two North, but they still looked formidable opposition for Tynedale.

Tynedale’s hopes of continuing their recent good run suffered a further setback when their leading points scorer, full back Ash Smith, was a late cry off, followed by born-again flanker Stuart Johnson.

But once again, it was Tynedale who thrived on the 3G synthetic surface of Newcastle Falcons’ Kingston Park palace to record a well deserved victory in the drizzle.

It was the fourth time they have played at Kingston Park since the December floods swamped their Corbridge ground and their third win against supposedly superior opposition.

It was Caldy’s heaviest defeat of the season, and the first time they had not managed even a bonus point. Manager Gareth Davis said:” We had a shocker. We just couldn’t master the basics of passing and catching and our play was as miserable as the weather.

“Although we were on an unfamiliar artificial pitch in truth that had no bearing on the result. We were just very poor.”

Dan Marshall returned to the Tynedale ranks at full back, while the blue and whites also welcomed back flanker Joe Mills, after a long injury lay off.

Mills celebrated his return by scoring the opening try, but joy turned to black despair when shortly after the score, he had to go off with what looked a like a nasty hamstring injury.

In the absence of Smith, the place kicking duties fell to skipper Matty Outson, whose prowess from the tee has previously been patchy to say the least.

But the doubters need not have worried, as he produced an immaculate place kicking display, including one conversion from way out on the touchline.

The afternoon was dominated by a strong wind, which was in Tynedale’s favour in the first half, and they used it well to pin Caldy in their own half. The visitors were under the cosh from the start, and a break from Will Miller seemed likely to lead to a try in the opening minute, but the poor pass went to ground.

However, Caldy were unable to clear their lines, and following good pressure from a line out, Mills went over to open the scoring, with Outson converting.

Caldy came back well with some good driving, notably from that lumbering lump of lobscouse Derek Salisbury at prop. and it took some good tackling, notably by Miller, to keep them at bay.

Caldy missed a penalty on 12 minutes, and following Mills’s replacement by Tom McCullough on 14 minutes, Caldy drew level when centre Gavin Roberts charged through the middle, and flanker Nyle Davidson burst over for fly half Rich Vasey to convert.

Tynedale began to turn the screw, exerting such relentless pressure on the Caldy line that the visitors started conceding penalties so liberally that a less lenient referee than Neil Chivers might have awarded a penalty try or two, or even waved a red card.

As it was, he contented himself with three yellows in quick succession,the first to number eight Harrison Crowe on 26 minutes, followed by try scorer Davidson on 34 and finally winger Nick Royle on 36, meaning the Wirral side were down to 12 men briefly.

However, it seemed likely they would escape until a good Tynedale drive from a scrum saw winger Oli Walker go over in the corner. Outson converted superbly from the touchline to give Tynedale a slender 14-7 interval lead.

Caldy oozed menace at the start of the second half, launching some big wind assisted kicks into Tynedale territory, but Tynedale dealt with them all admirably, with some solid tackling.

They absorbed everything and increasingly frustrated Caldy could throw at them, and looked very dangerous in the break with Walker making some scintillating surges up the left to ease the pressure.

And when Caldy conceded a penalty just outside their 22, there was Outson whacking it into the teeth of the gale with just enough force for it to slither over the bar for 17-7.

After that neither side looked like scoring, and opened up an 11 point gap between themselves and the drop zone.

Tynedale have another tough game on Saturday when they travel down the M6 to take on in-form Preston Grasshoppers.

After being down amongst the strugglers in the early weeks of the season, the Lancashire side have hit a rich vein of form and are unbeaten home or away since the end of November. They have won their last four home games, with their scalps including second placed Stourbridge and fourth placed Sedgley Park as they lie one place and two points above Tynedale