A SUPERB display of attacking rugby saw Tynedale brush aside fancied Stourbridge to ease away from the relegation zone.

The boys from the Black Country started as warm favourites, but had no answer to Tynedale‘s fluent running and passing on the Kingston Park carpet.

Even playing with 13 men for 10 minutes following two rapid yellow cards could not knock Tynedale out of the stride, as they ran in five well worked tries to claim a rare five points maximum.

The return of the multi-talented Matty Outson to the scrum half berth was a telling factor, as he formed a solid link with the effervescent Rob Parker at fly half to launch attack after attack against the large but ponderous Midlanders.

There were some fine performances across the side, with burly Ben Haigh battering his way forward like the Runaway Train at every opportunity , while on the opposite side of the front row, Peter Southern continued to defy Old FatherTime with 80 minutes of all-out action. 

Lock Graeme Dunn won lots of crucial line-out ball against bigger opponents and there were lots of important carries from Scott Powell at number eight. 

There was also a memorable debut for 18-year-old England U18 front rower Jamie Blamire from Workington, who was sin-binned soon after coming on as a replacement, but returned to the fray to score a try.

Coach Scott Lawson must have been delighted with his side’s performance, which augurs well for the future.

Although outgunned up front by the huge Stourbridge pack,  Tynedale were superb going forward  from the first whistle, throwing the ball about with confidence, eventually being awarded a penalty in front of the posts.

There was a lengthy delay before the kick was taken, as no-one could find a kicking tee, but with the confidence of youth, Parker simply claimed the three points with a drop kick as the tee-party quest went into the bowels of the Kingston Park stand.

However, Stourbridge were not third in the table for nothing, and that giant pack was soon trundling forward  at the gallop, before releasing the ball for centre Ash Elvers to go over in the corner for an unconverted try.

Tynedale out themselves under pressure by getting ahead of the kicker at the restart - an occurrence rarely punished these days - and another ominously effortless  drive sent Tynedale into speedy reverse, but tenacious tackling kept the visitors out.

On the 17th minute, Tynedale broke out , and a deft kick by Outson sentr full back Dan Marshall scorching in for a try, which Parker was unable to convert.

The fly half soon made amends though, gathering the ball after a breathtaking break by Marshall, and dancing through several tackles to touch down under the posts for a try he converted himself to take the score to 15-5.

The fly half added a penalty on the half hour, but soon after, Blamire, on for the injured Louis Frankland, found himself on the still warm bench after coming in at the side of a maul.

Stourbridge made their extra man count at the resultant driving maul, with back rower Nigel Mukarati getting the touchdown to another unconverted try.

Stourbridge were having success with throws to the front of the line-out, but the wily Dunn pout a stop to that source of possession by stealing their ball on a couple of occasions to leave he score at 18-10 at the break.

More Parker magic saw Tynedale start the second half well, as he lit the blue touchpaper for Frankland to crash over seven minutes in, Parker‘s conversion taking the score to 25-10.

Tynedale then ran into trouble, with first number eight Powell and then Dunn seeing yellow as they desperately defended their line. 

Resisting the Stourbridge pack with a full complement was hard, but with only six forwards, they were powerless to stop replacement Billy Harding finishing off another forward drive, full back Tom Mitchell’s conversion taking the score to 25-17.

However, Tynedale held their nerve, with Parker landing a cool penalty when the eager Stourbridge forwards were kidded into pushing too soon at a scrum.

In the last quarter Stourbridge - several of whom had played for the British Police the night before - started to flag, and Tynedale regained the initiative.

A Parker penalty came back off the post, but Tynedale regained possession and slick handling saw Jack Harrison touch down for the all-important fourth try.

Parker got under the conversion attempt, but he was soon lining up another, after Blamire crashed over for his debut try.

That went unconverted too, but Tynedale had already done enough to claim a memorable victory to stay 11th in the table, five points about the drop zone  - but most of the sides below them have a game in hand. 

Tynedale enjoy an Easter break this weekend, but return to Kingston Park on April 2 to take on Otley.