The first score of the game came at the hands of the Stags resident strong man and yet owner of the North East’s tightest jeans Matthew Fleet. After a series of strong pick and goes from the forwards, Fleety was able to pick, breaking a few tackles before powering over the line. His impressive carrying was a feature throughout the day keeping the stags on the front foot.

Next up was a young man who had a great afternoon’s senior rugby, playing well beyond his years. Jack Harrison was another outlet utilising great pace down the wing to leave the Middlesbrough defenders for dead.

Boro were not to be deterred striking back from an error through the stags, but when a composed few phases of play allowed Ben Armstrong to feed Matt Siddle, the travelling 10 fed a miss pass to Luke Mallinson who fed a streamlined, compared to seasons gone by, Callum Johnston who used his new athletic frame to dance through a couple of defenders.

CJ was on the scoredboard again before half time after a break from the impressive Aidan Jackson-Smith meant CJ could just bundle over.

Half time Stags 22 – 7

After the break Alex Johnson, though keen to shake off the jellyfishes of tours gone by, managed to hit a truly remarkable line and looked for all the money in the world to be in, only to be caught approximately 3 metres shorts. This line and run may have only been possible in the knowledge his girlfriend was in attendance. Thankfully, Luke Mallinson was also following Jonno and was able to scoop up to run in relatively unopposed.

Liam Larkin set the bench mark as the oldest try scorer thus far, and is constantly setting a mark as one of the fittest men to pull on the shirt. He did this after a great scrum from the forwards meant Dan Quinn could put the ball into the hands of Mallo once more, who hitting a gap in the defence fed Liam Larkin who expertly beat a final defender for his score.

Aidan Jackson-Smith was on point with his lineout throws throughout the day hitting James Tyers and Ethan Ledington time and time again. On this occasion he hit Ethan perfectly at the apex of his jump and the great take set up an impressive maul which powered from the halfway to the 22. Aidan peeled from the tail going one on one with the Boro full back and has since assured everyone it was a very deliberate half goose step somewhat almost sidestep change of pace and definitely not, how it looked, that he had stumbled as he went by the full back for the score. Jury is still out.

Final score of the day came from Stags stalwart Danny Quinn, who from coming on just before the break had bossed the flow of the game organising the back line and the forwards alike. Matt Sid had ran in and out of tackles throwing dummies left, right and centre before popping to Quinny who after beating one defender with a step, rode a tackle across the line.

All in all a great performance from every man that made the journey and a solid platform to build upon for the Stags

FT Middlesbrough 14 – 44 Stags

Sqaud; Geritz, Jackson-Smith, Tyers, Simpson, Bage, Leddington, Johnson, Fleet, Armstrong, Siddle, Harrison, W. Corbett, C. Johnstone, Mallinson, Smith, Todd, Jamieson, Mould, L. Larkin, Quinn, J. Painter, Willis

Tries; Mallinson, L. Larkin, Jackson-Smith, C. Johnston x2, Quinn, Fleet, Harrison

Scran – Options of Pasta or Sausage and chips which is never a bad shout in a club with great hospitality and a squad that played well throughout and for the full 80 minutes.