Cramlington Rockets made it two from two in front of a Kingston Park crowd enjoying the rare summer sunshine when they took on reigning North East champions, Jarrow Vikings.

Enjoying the facilities of a professional team thanks to Newcastle Thunder’s Friday Night Light’s initiative, despite a 7:30 kick off, it was still a warm muggy evening.

Training in the previous two weeks had been very much with the aim to nullify Jarrow but the match did not start according to the Rockets’ best laid plans. A mixture of naivety and handling errors meant Jarrow were 16-0 up after half an hour, a Rockets yellow card for Liam Hawthorn compounding their misfortune.

Reminiscent of their previous match against Peterlee, thankfully the players did not panic and it was Sam Turnbull-Johnson who open the Rocket’s account, converted by Jack Redfern. However Jarrow struck back before the break and the orange and black found themselves with a 6-20 deficit to fight back from.

After encouraging words from the coaching staff, the Rockets emerged from the tunnel determined to do better in the next 40 minutes.

First blood was claimed by winger, Ross Glasper, finishing well in the corner for Redfern to add the two extra points.

With plenty of ongoing battles through the middle channel, the next score was not until the hour mark, when backrower Connor Lye dived over, Redfern again converting.

Sensing the opportunity and only two points down now, the Rockets took a hold of the momentum of the match and it was good work from Joey Bell to dot down for a converted try that gave the Rockets the lead for the first time.

With the score finely balanced at 24-20, frustration from Jarrow spilt over and they also found themselves with a man in the sin bin.

Energised by his first try, hero of the day was Ross Glasper, diving over for his brace and giving the Rockets a more comfortable margin, with Redfern unable to convert for the first time in the match.

Annoyed at missing, he was soon giving the chance to get back on track with a penalty twelve minutes from time.

Coolly slotted over to take the score to 30-20, that was the way the score remained until the full time whistle and the Rockets claimed their second win of the season and cue celebrations on and off the field.

Having endured such a poor start, Townend was relieved to see his players recover in the second half: “As the lads start to buy into our philosophy, the work in training is starting to pay off.

Once we got that first half an hour out the way we started to play our own brand of rugby. Our challenge now is to become a team that can compete for both halves instead of one."

Townend continued: "After the break we calmed down and that allowed us to play to our simple but effective tactics. Our superior fitness and leadership from several key players were crucial and we were able to take control of the momentum.

To stop the reigning champions from scoring for a full 40 minutes is no easy task but they all came together and worked for each other.”

When asked how his nerves were after another game of high drama, Townend explained how he is hoping for calmer times ahead: “From a coaches point of view, I need to give the players more incentives to keep my stress levels down but from a fan's point of view it was another really entertaining game.”

Refusing to get carried away, with wins against Peterlee and Jarrow, two sides expected to be near the top of the table come the business end of the season, Townend was cautiously optimistic: “I am very proud of the boys and, as we said in the changing room after the game, if we can keep this group together there is a chance of achieving something very special.”