BACK in the big time, Northumberland kick off their top-tier county championship challenge with their toughest task on Saturday. Coach Tom Borthwick told Nick Purewal how National Two campaigns for his mainstays will stand the county side in fine stead.
NO Twickenham talk will have passed the lips of Northumberland’s finest this week.
No mention of last year’s second tier County Championship headquarters win will have been bandied about at Tynedale Park as Dave Guthrie and Co get down to business.
After a bruising National Two season, Tynedale and Blaydon’s boys once more make up the majority of the squad that wends its way to the reigning top-tier champions on Saturday.
Yorkshire at Harrogate, a nice easy introduction to life back in the Bill Beaumont Cup for highly-rated coach Tom Borthwick and his charges.
Borthwick has taken Tynedale, with all their modest means and traditional rugby club values, to fourth in National Two.
And as the most qualified – as badges go – coach in the North East, he is well placed to pick up where he left off last term. In fact, he is even heading up the England Counties squad again when they tour Japan and Korea this summer.
The teacher from Workington, who can list Alan Tait among his former pupils, is hardly easing up and while he asserts Saturday will be a leap into the slight unknown, he is not a man to leave any stone unturned.
Of course, he will reserve judgment on North’s chances until this coming weekend is complete, in public – but in private he will doubtless be of strong mind as to how far his squad can go.
Taking one game at a time is doubtless the right strategy, especially when building a side at the end of a punishing campaign.
Ross Samson tore his hamstring on his final Tynedale outing, so Borthwick has scrum-half dilemmas, especially with Blaydon struggling all year for half-backs.
Yorkshire will be able to call on a host of National One talent, but as Borthwick pointed out, both top teams in the wider Newcastle area have held their own against top-class higher-level opponents. “There’s certainly nothing to fear from this clash, but there is certainly no doubt it will be a very tough challenge,” said Borthwick.
