WITH the elements fighting against them too, Tynedale Raiders summoned up another great display of strength and determination to keep hold of their place at the top of the table.

Facing strong winds and blizzards of hail and snow in the first half only for the sun to come out second half of their trip to Hull Ionians II, they still managed to put together an eye-catching performance to clinch the slender 12-10 success.

The harsh weather meant the opening 20 minutes were scrappy as the wet ball made for near impossible handling conditions, and it was Hull, playing with the wind at their backs, who went over first with a good pick and go from 20 metres.

But Tynedale levelled the score five minutes before the break when they gained good possession and a break from Rory Dixon fed Finlay Magowan to score in the corner, the conversion too wide out for Adam Redman to send over as the teams went into the break at 5-5.

With the wind dying down completely, Tynedale couldn‘t use the weather to their advantage but still dominated proceedings from the whistle.

And they were ahead 10 minutes in as constant pressure led to numerous penalties and line-outs, with the referee finally growing tired of Hull’s incessant infringing as he awarded a penalty try which was duly converted by Redman.

Their lead was just two points with quarter-of-an-hour to go when a break upfield saw them score out wide, the conversion attempt missing to keep Raiders‘ noses in front at 12-10.

A missed Redman penalty didn’t prove costly though, as Tynedale recorded the victory in another hard fought success which keeps them unbeaten in their opening North Second Team League campaign.

The game was a great opportunity for players returning from injury to get a good run-out, Joe Mills, Tom McCullough and Fraser McKenna all coming through unscathed and youngster Ben Blackburn impressing with his first 60 minutes of rugby for a long while.

But they were all overlooked for the man of the match accolade by Tom King who impressed in his first game for Tynedale at prop after moving from his usual position at hooker.