By BRIAN TILLEY brian.tilley@hexham-courant.co.uk.co.uk

Last updated at 09:25, Friday, 26 February 2010

THE champagne rugby of recent weeks went decidedly flat on Saturday, as Tynedale struggled to dispose of lowly Nuneaton.

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Tynedale 33, Nuneaton 12.

For long spells, Tynedale looked more like the side lying second to bottom of the National Division One table, as they were unable to secure any kind of possession.

Only occasionally were there sparks of the class which has taken Tynedale to a deserved fourth place in the table – but those sparks were enough to secure maximum points for the Blue and Whites.

Tynedale were without all three official captains – Phil Belgian, Jamie Murray and Joe Graham – and there seemed a general lack of purpose and drive.

There was perhaps a hint of complacency about Tynedale, given the fact that Nuneaton had only won three games all season, and lost their last 11 games on the trot.

The fact that the last of those wins came against Tynedale in October did not seem to register with Tynedale.

Only already doomed Manchester have a worse record than the Midlanders, but on this showing, how they got themselves into such a predicament was hard to discern.

Nuneaton enjoyed enormous amounts of possession, but they lacked penetration, which allowed Tynedale to put in a huge number of tackles.

Tynedale were seldom in the Nuneaton 22, but still managed to score five excellent tries to give the scoreline a deceiving cast.

Nuneaton’s most potent weapon was flame-haired scrum half Huw Thomas, who scored all their points with four penalties, and gave his opposite number Dominic Shaw a torrid time around the base of the scrum.

It was significant that Tynedale only started to come good in the final quarter, when Thomas had moved to his usual role at fly half, and Shaw finally found some space.

Tynedale could point to the fact they were without two of their more influential players in Jamie Murray and Joe Graham, scorers of 17 tries between them this season.

However, it wasn’t just their try-scoring potential that was missed; both inspire those around them with their powerful displays.

Tynedale are sometimes accused of ignoring their home grown players in favour of imported personnel from Kingston Park and Cumbria.

Therefore, it was good to see two chips off the Tynedale block getting a run-out in the second half.

Both Graeme Dunn and Jonathan Cousin, sons of Tynedale legends Steve “Aga” Dunn and Wallace Cousin, gave good accounts of themselves, particularly in the line-out.

Despite a hard overnight frost, spring-like sunshine ensured conditions for perfect for rugby, and it was the Nuns who made the more impressive start.

Tynedale kicked off, and just couldn’t get their hands on the ball.

Nuneaton tossed it around, eventually forcing Tynedale to concede a penalty in front of the posts which Thomas clipped over with two minutes gone.

The lead lasted just three minutes, which was the time it took for a kick to be charged down, and for winger Charlie Ingall to sprint through for a great try following fine handling from centre Hamish Smales and full back James Hoyle.

Andy Hall converted, and the Tynedale faithful sat back and waited for the floodgates to open as they had against Stourbridge.

It simply didn’t happen.

Nuneaton had the ball, and wouldn’t let it go for the next 20 minutes.

They lacked the firepower to do anything with it, shuffling from one side of the field to the other, but never threatening the Tynedale line.

They were next to score however, when Tynedale transgressed in front of the posts, and Thomas grabbed his second penalty.

Again the score galvanised Tynedale, and they produced some slick handling from a scrum to send flanker Grant Rastall in for a rare try on 31 minutes.

Hall converted, and Tynedale were 14-6 up.

From the restart, Tynedale were penalised for pulling down the maul, and the deadly Thomas made it 14-9 at the interval.

The gap was down to just two points in the opening minute of the second half, when Tynedale again made a mess of the kick-off, and Thomas obliged from the tee yet again.

Tynedale seemed to have bounced back straight away, when Ingall darted over from a scrum, but London referee Simon Harding had spotted an infringement.

However, Tynedale did not have long to wait to extend their lead, as an attempted clearance failed to find touch.

Shaw found fly half Gavin Beasley, who released a huge pass to find Hamish Smales, who raced in unchallenged for a great try.

The conversion attempt went across the face of the posts, but Tynedale were leading 19-12 with four minutes of the half left.

Still they failed to press home their advantage, as Thomas continued to pull the strings for Nuneaton, leaving Tynedale chasing shadows.

There were only nine minutes left on the clock when Tynedale finally extended their lead,

Following a good spell of pressure from a free kick, good work by Andrew Murray sent Ingall in for his second try, to clinch the four-try bonus point.

Beasley converted superbly from the touch line to make it 26-12.

Five minutes later, the chance to extend the lead from a scrum five seemed to have gone when the referee awarded the Nuns a free kick.

Nuneaton tried to run it out of defence, but lost possession, and there was Gavin Beasley, picking up and running in for an opportunist try, which he again converted from the touchline with aplomb.

Brave Nuneaton were even denied a late consolation try, when excellent left winger Jim MacDonald scorched into gleefully touch down – but touch judge Derek Blake had spotted him putting a foot in touch.

The bottle of bubbly for the Waitrose John Lewis man of the match went to Champagne Charlie Ingall for his two tries.

First published at 06:13, Friday, 26 February 2010
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk