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Kibirige sinks Tynedale af ter Brown turns tables

Tynedale 18 - 25 Darlington

By Tim Wellock

WHILE the grunt and grind of experienced forwards turned the game, it was the pace and youthful zest of Lee Davis and Adam Kibirige which put Darlington in pole position to finish fourth in National Three North.

They now trail Tynedale only on points difference and have two games left, whereas the Corbridge club finish at home to Blaydon next Saturday.

The match was a triumph for Darlington coach Phil Lancaster, who hadn't played for two years and spent the previous two coming off the bench for no more than 20 minutes.

When prop Paul Shepherd failed a fitness test Lancaster had to play and somehow survived the 80 minutes.

He was usually at the heart of the driving mauls, which produced two more tries for No 8 Alan Brown, taking the division's leading try scorer to 23.

After losing by one point to Blaydon and Mowden Park in their two previous matches, Darlington trailed 18-17 with ten minutes left.

Davis missed the chance to snatch victory with the last kick of the game at Mowden. But he looked sharper all round this time and knocked over a 35-metre penalty to grab the lead then put in a perfectly-weighted grubber kick up the left touchline from 30 metres out.

Kibirige gave his opposite number five metres start and scorched past him to dive on the ball just as it crossed the line.

The Yarm School product, drafted in because Simon Crozier had a rib injury, had shown his electrifying pace in twice going close in the first half.

But Darlington's handling attempts before the interval often broke down through over-elaboration in midfield.

When Phil Belgian landed two well-struck penalties early in the second half to stretch the hosts' lead to 18-7 Darlington fell back on the driving maul, which had helped them win their home game against Tynedale.

It also produced the first try in this match, with Del Lewis finishing off a catch-and-drive after a penalty to the corner, Davis adding the conversion.

But Tynedale were mostly on top for the next 40 minutes, and their desire to play fluent rugby made it a much more enjoyable contest than Darlington's previous two physical battles.

Not that the close-quarters stuff had done them any harm as they were able to close out Tynedale in the last half hour, although they were defending desperately at the end.

The decision to play young Phil Dawson at open side paid off as the plus points from his tireless efforts easily outweighed his occasional loss of the ball.

Tynedale shunned kicks at goal in the first half, and after one penalty to the left corner they moved the ball along the line for right winger Matt McLoughlin to score.

Darlington were fortunate when after a high tackle by Rob Stewart they were sent back a further ten metres for backchat but Tynedale ran the very kickable penalty to no avail.

As the hosts continued to put good attacks together Darlington lock Richard Snowball did well to get back and put in a crucial tackle. But after 20 minutes inter-passing up the right by the Tynedale forwards put flanker Stuart Johnson over.

Belgian added an excellent conversion for a 12-7 lead, but Darlington had the better of the last ten minutes of the first half, during which Davis missed two penalties.

Tynedale obviously decided to kick theirs at half-time and Belgian's two early strikes appeared to have put them in command.

When they also won a scrum against the head it seemed Lancaster might be flagging, but ten minutes into the half Darlington drove a maul 15 metres for Brown to score.

They had sent on Stuart Palmer for Lewis and he was in control of the ball when they next drove for the line, but just when it seemed he might be driven into the corner flag Brown ripped the ball off him and plunged over.

Tynedale were down to 14 at that point as flanker Scott Breerton had received the game's only yellow card for going into a maul from the side.

When Davis's well-struck conversion drifted just right of the posts it seemed it might spell agony for the second successive week. But he was spot on with the penalty which followed, then Kibirige grabbed the glory with the sort of finishing prowess which will make him one to watch in the future.