Hull Ionians 12 v 16 Tynedale
“Least said, soonest mended”. Ionians lost.

Tynedale’s performance deserves more, details to follow...

and here they are.

Tynedale were forced to head south without a number of their squad. Players were stuck on the wrong side of Hadrian’s wall by heavy snowfall, the B6320 was blocked and they endured a treacherous journey along the A69 and down the A1 to arrive late at Brantingham Park.
Not ideal preparation for a side languishing in the lower reaches of N2N. Not ideal in any circumstance. However, events obviously galvanised the team, rather than disheartened them. Tynedale produced one of the most creditable, certainly one of the most determined performances, witnessed in many a season.
Those Ionians supporters present at Abbeydale will not be able to equate that performance with the one they saw on Saturday. Those who read the report will think it pure hyperbole. It’s difficult to comprehend the difference.
Whatever aspiration the visitors had at the kick-off, by the twentieth minute they had gained considerable self-belief and a six-point lead, thanks to the boot of Tom Mann and Ionians’ ill discipline.
By the half hour they were clinging on to a tenuous lead, Ionians claiming a close range try from the redoubtable George Mewburn, and went to the break still with a narrow advantage.
Within a minute of the re-start Tynedale scored a well constructed try, Will Roberts finishing off a flowing move, and the dye was cast. Come hell or high water the Corbridge cohorts were going North with the points.
If they were defensively sound in the first half, they were something else for the second; and the home side didn’t have an answer.
Only Mewburn looked capable of breaking through what became an increasingly impenetrable line that Tynedale strung out across the field and he wasn’t able to capitalise on that ability until the 78th minute, by which time Tynedale were about dead on their feet, to claim his second try.
That was too little, much too late. By then Tynedale had made the game theirs by mauling the ball to the line for a try for Ben Haigh, which had put them 5 – 16 to the good. They had the confidence and determination to see out the remaining twenty minutes without ceding the advantage.
Ionians offered much the same in the final quarter as they had through-out. It wasn’t good enough. Bashing away ineffectually and increasingly poor handling did nothing to help the cause, but even in difficult conditions the distribution was so painfully slow. It played into Tynedale’s hands.
There is a week off. Plenty of time to reflect. Well done Tynedale.