TYNEDALE Centurions got the better of Bishop Auckland in a pulsating cup tie.

The game was on a nail-biter until the final 10 minutes, when two late tries secured a 36-22 away victory.

Although outweighed in the forward line, Andy Neil, Ethan McLeod and Phil Scandle more than held their own at close quarters. Scandle switched to tight head, and Tynedale began to gain the upper hand in the scrums.

Adam Binks and Keith Johnson struck up an excellent line-out partnership, and contributed all over the pitch as they wore down their heavier opponents.

Tynedale took an early lead when Mason McLeod was able to link with scrum half Andy Harvey. Ollie Murrell continued the good work and was able to put winger Robbie Nixon clear. The latter showed a clean pair of heels to race over.

Bishop soon hit back with a fine try of their own before Jason Armstrong hammered up the middle of the field. The drive was halted 10 metres short but from a resulting scrum number eight Ollie Hillary powered over and Spencer Gorman added the points.

The 12-5 lead was held until the break but only because of fine defensive work by Mark Smales and Tom Shrimpton, and also following a thunderous try saving tackle by captain and full back, Jake Sloan.

Immediately after the restart the Centurions seemed to be caught off guard and the home side scored twice to take a 17-12 lead.

Good work from Charlie Rutherford and Callum Snowdon saw the ball moved from the halfway line, and Hillary appeared in support to add his second try, with Gorman knocking over the conversion. Gorman then added a try of his own following good work from Chris Nicholls.

Bishop hit back with a try of their own but missed the conversion which would have levelled the scores. It set up a grand finale, but Tynedale’s fitness and strong set of replacements led to them score two late tries.

Gorman glided over for his second after good work from Dave Nicholls and Oliver Shrimpton before converting a nice try from Sloan.