Tynedale 39 Stourbridge 24

Stourbridge Saxons' new National League One season got off to an awful start with a chaotic first-half costing them any chance of victory at Tynedale.

The visitors trailed 29-7 at the interval due to a combination of injury, poor defending, ineffective officiating and poor discipline.

A battling second-half saw Stourbridge close the gap but ultimately lose 39-24 to Tynedale.

The game was just three minutes old when the visitors lost scrum-half Peter White to a possible concussion.

And it was six minutes of chaos midway through the half that cost Stourbridge the match, as they conceded three tries and had Ben Sparks yellow carded.

Stourbridge were already trailing to a fifth minute Matt Outson penalty, when wing Peter Cole went through a huge hole in their defence to put Dominic Shaw away for the opening try on 16 minutes.

Two minutes later, Hamish Smales extended the lead before Tynedale prop Jonathan Williams went over for a solo try.

This stung Stourbridge into life and they struck back through hooker Liam Wordley, who was driven over from a lineout.

However, the home side finished the half the stronger as Smales grabbed his second, the wing finishing well.

An improved second-half performance from Stourbridge saw them outscore Tynedale but the damage had been done in the opening period.

Wordley led from the front and was again driven over in the corner following a lineout drive on 46 minutes with the forwards repeating the trick on 59 minutes, when flanker Jamie Sutton dotted down for a debut try.

In between those tries, Tynedale lock Myles Scott had barged over to maintain the gap on the scoreboard.

Nathan Bressington capped Stourbridge's best move with a score in the left corner, but the home side had the final say through a Joel Hodgson penalty.