A RARE away win was cruelly snatched from Tynedale’s grasp by a late try from league leaders Sedgley Tigers on Saturday.

Tynedale are well known for their recurrent bouts of travel sickness, and few gave them much hope as they headed south to Manchester to take on the Tigers, who had won all their previous games.

But Tynedale, who had 10 of their squad of 20 who had played junior rugby at the club, tore into them from the start, and perhaps deserved more than the draw they came home with.

Centre Will Miller opened the scoring on seven minutes, capitalising on good work by the pack , where Joe Mills and Scott Powell were again impressive. Ash Smith converting

The home side responded well, with their big runners battering their way through the middle, before the ball was released for winger Steve Lothian to go over wide out for a converted try to bring the scores level on the half hour.

With Stu Johnson stepping forward to manage the team with all other coaches indisposed for one reason or another, Tynedale were caught napping when a quickly taken penalty allowed scrum half Callum McShane to nip in under the posts for an an opportunist try which was converted to put the Tigers 14-7 ahead on 33 minutes.

Possibly more worrying than going behind was the fact that hooker Louis Frankland suffered a broken thumb, meaning that replacement Jamie Blamire made an unexpectedly early appearance.

And the new man was in the thick of the action early in the second half, as Tynedale took the game to the opposition, snuffing out Tigers attacks with some copybook tackling. And from a catch and drive, it was Blamire who got the try on the hour, Smith converting to bring the scores level.

The Tigers got their noses in front again with an unconverted try from flanker Jonny Matthews from a close range line-out, on 65 minutes and Tynedale hearts sank when talismanic scrum half and captain Matty Outson had to go off.

Man of the match, fly half Dan Taylor, moved to his more accustomed role at number nine, and linked well with the experienced Smith at fly half as some fine tactical kicks pinned the opposition back. It wasn’t a major surprise that Tynedale scored next following slick hands by Taylor and Smith, and then replacement Guy Rundle, who put Henry Hadfield in at the corner for an unconverted equalising try on 66 minutes to make it 19-19.

With seven minutes of normal time left, Tynedale seemed to have the game in the bag when yet another thundering tackle from the irrepressible Miller allowed him to flick the ball to Hadfield who belligerently ran in the bonus point try from 30 metres, having managed to escape the clutches of the cover defence.

However, the Tigers are not at the top of the table for nothing, and in the dying minutes, they forced a penalty which led to another catch and drive try through prop Max Ashcroft.

Tynedale coach Scott Lawson commented: “This was a tremendous effort from the Tyne players which will give them confidence on their travels and raise a few eyebrows for other teams and visitors to Tynedale Park.”

Chester are the visitors to Corbridge on Saturday in an attractive fixture which kicks off at 3pm. The Cheshire side have lost both their away fixtures so far, and Tynedale will be hoping to maintain their recent fine form.