Last updated at 12:39, Friday, 12 March 2010

Tynedale Under 8s took 30 players to the annual Newcastle Falcons tag rugby tournament at Kingston Park on Sunday.

They entered three teams; the Bulls, the Lions and the Rhinos.

The final was to be played in front of the crowd at half time in the Premier League match between the Falcons and Bath.

With teams from Northumberland, Durham, Wearside, Teesside and Cumbria competing the competition standard was high.

The Tynedale Bulls team were in the tough group with Percy Park Pumas, Northern Panthers and Barnard Castle.

They struggled to find their form in the first two games, losing 5-0 and 3-0 to Percy Park and Northern respectively, but they showed their true form by beating Barnard Castle 3-1 with tries from Alex Hannant, Peter Jowett and Charlie Trim.

The Tynedale Lions team should have won their first two games against Percy Park Panthers and Northern Dragons but could only manage to draw 2-2 in both games, with tries from Harry Gallagher and Patrick Smeal and Henry Major.

They also came good in the last group game beating Darlington MP 4-1, with the pick of the tries coming from Tom Watson.

Receiving the ball in a defensive position on his own try line, he side stepped every player on the pitch to score at the other end.

Other try scorers were Patrick Smeal and Henry Major.

The team were through to the quarter finals, but came up against the eventual winners of the competition, Durham City.

Despite some frantic tag tackling they were unable to stop a rampant Durham, losing by 3 tries to 0.

Tynedale Rhinos sailed through the group stages first beating Percy Park Lions 3-1,the try scorers being Jack Donaldson (2) , Josh Trewhitt and Danny Wilkinson.

They then beat Northern 3-2, with tries from Donaldson, Trewhitt and Wilkinson, before overcoming Darlington 4-1, Sam Brown, Donaldson, Trewhitt and Wilkinson being the scorers.

They came up against Percy Park Pumas in the quarter finals.

In a tough, close encounter, they ended up winning 3 -2, try scorers being Joseph Crozier, Trewhitt and Wilkinson.

They were within one game of the final, but it wasn't to be.

In a game they could and probably should have won, they were beaten 3-2 by Sunderland.

The tries came from Milo Robinson and again Josh Trewhitt, who managed a try in every game.

The teams were:

Bulls: Archie Elliot, Alex Hannant, Peter Jowett, William Kellas, Jack Kilby, Thomas Ludman, David O'Neil, Joshua Smith, Charlie Trim and Ben Wilkinson.

Lions: Dan Clarke, Matthew Ferguson, Harry Gallagher, Max Golightly, Ruary Irons, Henry Major, Sam Peter, Patrick Smeal, Tom Watson and Henry White.

Rhinos: Sam Brown, Joseph Crozier, Jack Donaldson, Ben Dykins, Sam Richardson, Milo Robinson, Ben Robson, Josh Trewhitt, Oliver Waterhouse and Danny Wilkinson.

First published at 09:45, Friday, 12 March 2010
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk