Steve Nutt

SEDGLEY PARK           35
WHARFEDALE              5
 
Friendly
 
GAMES against Wharfedale are fast becoming the Tigers’ traditional opening pre-season fixture and they certainly enjoyed this one, running in five tries with debutant Steve Nutt adding a faultless goal kicking display with five conversions to add to his try.

The summer’s off-season rustiness was there for all to see, but had Tim Fourie been granted the luxury of a full squad to choose from the margin of victory could easily have been doubled if not trebled.

That is taking nothing away from the plucky Yorkshiremen who were determined in defence and expansive in attack.

Their pacy backline at times stretched the home defence and had they possessed a final pass they would have given Park serious problems.

As it was the home side for most of the four, 20-minute periods, showed composure and commitment in defence together with width and incisiveness in attack.

Having only made four new signings Director of Rugby Fourie would no doubt have liked to have seen them all in action, but back-five forward Juan Crous was on honeymoon and so Fourie had to make do with appraising his three back signings from Waterloo and they didn’t disappoint.

Steve Nutt slotted in at 10 with ease and kicked well, both for position and goal, he also showed and eye for the gap and set up a number of three-quarter breaks with his speed and passing.

On the left wing Jan Van Der Venter was hungry for work and delivered some timely tackles as well as using his unquestioned speed to threaten the ’Dale try line.

Fellow South African Freeman Payne was solid at inside centre, particularly in the tackle and his slight-of-hand passing saw him slip the ball in the tackle on a number of occasions.

He was partnered in the middle by a rejuvenated Arno De Jager, who looked lively after missing most of last season through injury. As if to emphasise that point he played the majority of the game with a bandaged head, having picked up a nasty cut within 10 minutes.

In the forwards yet another ‘Bok’, Petrus Du Plessis, continues to grow in stature. His ability with the ball in hand added a new dimension to the Tigers’ attack the second half of last season and he continues to make impressive strides in this area and looks fit and strong.

The only other newcomer was at lock where Sale Sharks’ Glen Townson – who spent last season on loan at Waterloo – filled Ed Norris’s boots while he recovers from a summer knee op.

‘Chuck’ was joined on the sidelines by: Phil Jones (hernia); Andy Craig (shoulder), Gareth Roberts (hernia), Gerallt Evans (hernia) and Phil Gazzola, who continues to receive treatment for a troublesome Achilles tendon. Chris Hall, Chris Briers and Chris were unavailable.

’Dale were up for this game from the first whistle and on eight minutes gained the man advantage after Tigers’ Tom Albinson was yellow-carded for swinging a punch.

Park withstood ’Dale’s pressure, with Number 8 Jon Skurr driving the ball forward and once back at parity a width-of-the-pitch move saw De Jager drive the ball into contact only for it to pop out to Jamie Albinson who dummied his marker to skip over by the right-hand post from close range. Nutt added the conversion to make it 7-0 bang on 20 minutes.

Half-way through the second quarter another expansive move left to right saw De Jager this time off-load to the advancing Matt Riley who went over by the right-hand corner flag to give Nutt a difficult kick, but he duly obliged to make it 14-0.

Seconds before the half-time whistle Sedgley were again reduced to 14 men when skipper Jimmy Ponton was yellow-carded this time.

Determined defence once more kept out Wharfedale and on 55 minutes a break down the left flank started by Nutt ended with Skurr throwing a couple of outrageous dummies to crash over for try number three. Nutt added the extras to make it 21-0.

The Dalesmen continued to push out wide and three minutes later their impressive left winger, who had been threatening all game with his meandering runs, turned on the gas and his diagonal sprint ended with him going over in the right-hand corner to claim his side’s only points of the game.

On 62 minutes pressure inside the Dale 22 saw Payne and Skurr combine well to set up Nutt for his first try in a Sedgley shirt which he then converted.

The scoring was then rounded off on the final whistle when Phil Largan popped up on the left wing to force his way over and give Nutt the opportunity to make it five-out-of-five conversions, which he duly did.
 
SEDGLEY PARK: Riley, T.Albinson, De Jager, Payne, Van De Venter, Nutt, J.Albinson, Du Plessis, Roddam, Halsall, Fourie, Townson, Newton, Ponton, Skurr. Replacements: Duckworth, Keys, Largan, Williamson, Livesey, Wilkinson, Monsell.