PRUDHOE and Stocksfield were unable to halt the unstoppable Redcar when they travelled to the league leaders – but they were able to secure a bonus point against their high-flying opponents.

The hosts are unbeaten so far this season after they were relegated last year, and have scored more than 70 points in three of their four home games so far.

Following some early P&S possession in their opponent’s 22, Redcar replied with pressure of their own, before their impressive outside centre beat the rush defence to score in the corner.

The pace and angles of the attacking runners were difficult for the P&S defence to deal with, and Redcar added two more tries in quick succession to make the score 19-0.

A change of tactics followed, with the rush defence abandoned in favour of a conventional drift approach.

This neutralised the impact of Redcar’s centres, and allowed P&S to come back into the game. Luke Masters, Danny Whiley and Chris Nicholls were all unfortunate not to get on the scoreboard, before Yannick Debil carried from the scrum and executed a perfect two-on-one to send Joe Hughes into the corner, making it 19-5 at the break.

Redcar didn’t take conceding well, and came out strongly after the break. With the forwards carrying well and making ground, the wide players were able to exploit the space and score three times in a 15-minute period, making the score 41-5.

P&S were able to demonstrate their new-found resilience, however, hitting back with three tries of their own in the final 20 minutes to secure a bonus point. Debil was the first to cross the line, continuing his fine form by scoring his 12th try of the season after good work from Matty Nevin to avoid the touchline.

Debil again caused problems for Redcar as he looked to chip and chase, before a late tackle on the P&S man saw the hosts reduced to 14 men. P&S kicked well and the resulting lineout was confidently won. An overlap created by the forwards allowed Nicholls the chance to score his first try for P&S.

Finally, in the last play of the game, strong rucking allowed Rob Reid the easy task of finding the line following some direct play, securing the bonus point.