MANCHESTER is famous for its rain, and the city lived up to its reputation in no uncertain terms when Tynedale came calling on Saturday.

But the torrential downpours failed to put a dampener on Tynedale’s day as they battled to their first National League DivisionTwo North victory of the season against the strong Sedgley Tigers

After two defeats and a draw in their three opening games, Tynedale headed down to Whitefield with some trepidation, as the Tigers had won all three of their openers to lie second in the table.

Indeed, they had won all 11 matches since Tynedale hammered them 46-28 in the corresponding fixture last season,

But Tynedale turned the form book on its head with a magnificent display in horrendous conditions to claim four valuable points.

Tynedale rang the changes from the home draw with Otley, with Guy Pike returning on the left wing, Chris Wearmouth back in the second row, and Jake Rodgers starting at fly half. Michael Hughes came into the front row and there was a start in the back row for Joe Richards.

The weather and a very heavy pitch meant open rugby was out of the question, and the sides slugged it out in the mud during a dour first half, where ball retention was at a premium and dropped balls all too frequent.

The scoreboard remained blank until the 35th minute, when centre Liam Checksfield managed to find a way through for the opening try.

However, the score came at a price, for the youngster injured himself in scoring, and had to be replaced by Will Haydon-Wood.

The try was converted by Rodgers to give Tynedale a 7-0 lead at the interval.

And Tynedale extended their lead 11 minutes into the second period when Joe Richards showed great power and persistence in chasing down a kick to make it 12-0.

However, the home side hit back nine minutes later with a try through winger Jamie Harrison, who showed blistering pace down the wing to provide the hosts with a lifeline.

Fly-half Steve Collins was successful with the conversion to close the gap to 12-7, but Tynedale showed tremendous maturity to see the game out, and climb to 10th in the table.

Tynedale have another tough game on Saturday when Fylde are the visitors to Corbridge for a 3pm kick off.

The free-scoring Lancashire side are undefeated with three wins and a draw from their four games so far to lie second in the league, so Tynedale can expect a challenging afternoon.