Durham Tigers Open Age Make It 3 Wins From 4 Games

The Durham Tigers open age team go from strength to strength after beating Whitley Bay 30 - 24 on Saturday .

The game started very slowly yet again for the Tigers letting in two early tries in the first 10 minutes . The Tigers seem to struggle firing up at the kick off but soon got back into the game when on 20 minutes Jonny Griffith scored the Tigers first try with another great attacking run , twisting his way through defenders and side stepping to put the ball down for his 3rd try in 4 games .

After another try from the Barbarians made it 4 - 16 at half time .

After the break it was Adam Batley's turn to score a try with a trademark hookers try barging over from close range . This was Adam's first try of the season for the Tigers .Try converted by Lee (ferret) Goulding .

The Tigers then took control of the game . With the confidence growing it was Joe Hargreaves turn to score his first try of the day on 50 minutes after some great work from the forwards and excellent follow up play from the backs .

On 53 minutes the Tigers pounced again scoring through Matthew Linthwaite who was on his debut with a great pass from Michael Shepard to set him free on the wing . The try was converted yet again by Lee (ferret) Goulding .

Whitley Bay scored next with both teams making quite a few handling errors and a few dodgy decisions which left both teams confused .

On 70 minutes Andy Harris finished off a great flowing move from the Tigers with both backs and forwards combining well to put Andy into the corner to score his first ever try for the Tigers too . Ryan Allinson kicked a brilliant conversion from the touch line to take the score to 26 - 20 with 10 minutes to go .

Then on 73 minutes Whitley Bay scored again with some great work but they missed the conversion making it 26 - 24 with 7 minutes to go .

On 77 minutes super prop Joe Hargreaves claimed his second try of the day with some real team work and clinched the game for the Tigers .

The final score was 30 - 24 to the Durham Tigers .

Head Coach Matthew Styran said " I was a bit concerned about this game especially with missing 4 key players but the quality in the squad really showed as all the lads stepped up and played their hearts out . The passion is definitely their and now we have tasted victory they are looking for it every week . I was very happy to see three players score their first ever tries for the Tigers . We now have a midweek game on Wednesday to work on and I am definitely targeting another win . The team have really tightened up and are now working for each other . It's great to see their faces after the game and see them jumping about as if they have just won the Challenge Cup but that shows exactly what it means to them and me . I am extremely proud of what the lads have achieved so far and I hope we can kick on and get a few more wins . "

The Durham Tigers Open Age team's next game is on Wednesday at the Sunnydale Leisure Centre in Shildon . Kick off time is 7.30pm . Get yourselves down and support your local rugby league team .

COME ON YOU TIGERS !!!!!!!

Matthew Styran

Durham Tigers Vice Chairman