Lewis Minikin struck an early 40 metre penalty to get things started and with Tynedale attacking through their big forwards and Hull Ionians moving it wide to their backs a tight battle commenced. After 15 minutes Ionians twice nearly made the break through. First Cam Burnhill and Will Yates made good ground but were forced into touch 1 metre short. Then turn over ball saw George Mewburn charge through to the posts but the try was chalked off for an earlier infringement called from the touchline.
It was 22 minutes before the flood gates opened. Burnhill returned a Tynedale kick with interest and a penalty on the 22 saw Minikin add 3 more points. Tynedale mounted another attack but Sam Pocklington spotted an interception and ran to the posts untouched, Minikin adding the goal.
Tynedale soon replied with their pack making ground then moving it wide set Joe Beatty clear on the wing to score in the corner, Cam Grant converting.
Ionians soon replied second phase play seeing Joe Makin in midfield passing the ball on to Will Yates to make ground before passing back inside to Cam Bunhill who ran under the posts, Minikin converting.
Three minutes later Ionians struck again with a superb peace of teamwork from quick line-out ball releasing Lewis Minikin on a 40 metre run to the posts, making his conversion easy.
Tynedale fought their way into the attacking 22 and thought they were in when they charged down a clearance kick but Burnhill cleaned up under pressure and cleared the line with interest leaving Ionians in command at the break.
Tynedale were a different team after the break retaining the ball in the pack and aiming to power back into the game. After only 2 minutes they reached the line with replacement Owen Vassallo crashing over.
Fifteen minutes later Ionians made their first attack of the half and Will Yates thought he had reached through the final tackle to score, but it was ruled as just short. As Tynedale had infringed in the build up a penalty was awarded and pragmatism took the 3 points via Minikin’s boot rather than go for the try in the corner.
Tynedale broke through again with their wingers running close to the pack resulting in a second try for Joe Beatty. Cam Grant again converting, as he did all day, to make it 21-30.
From the restart a penalty line-out saw Ionians 30 metres out and with Joe Makin again taking clean ball the pack drove 10 metres on, Tynedale infringed and pragmatism again saw Minikin again strike the points.
Tynedale again took play to the goal line and waves of attacks were finally held up over the line allowing Ionians to clear. With 5 minutes to go Hull Ionians stole the ball in the tackle and Pocklington chipped over the top to the corner where Burnhill so nearly scored but just lost control as he and a defender dived in to ground the ball. Tynedale were now running everything, no more kicking, and a length of the field move saw replacement Alex Dryden score to make it 28-33.
The final minutes saw Hull Ionians pack shut down the game and hold onto the ball until the ref called final play when Charlie Kick booted the ball off the pitch to start victory celebrations, they are hard to get at Tynedale.
Man of the match was a challenging call as the whole team had played well. Cam Burnhill had caught every high ball and repeatedly made good ground through his running and kicking and Lewis Minikin had kicked every goal as well as score a try for a personal tally of 23 points, taking his season total to 293. But the Ionians supporters vote went to Captain Joe Makin for his high work rate, line-out domination of their own ball and leadership. Tynedale voted George Mewburn as man of the match for his usual power play in both attack and defence.