SEDGLEY TIGERS - 13
NEWBURY - 14

National Division One
 
ASKED to sum up the Tigers’ performance, backs coach Andy Northey encapsulated it in four words. Unfortunately only two can be repeated here: “We were…” Answers on a postcard please.

After overcoming his initial reluctance he eventually expanded: “It’s quite simple, they wanted it more than we did. They came here with a game plan and stuck to it, we, on the other hand didn’t have the wherewithal to overcome it and only really began to put moves together at the eleventh hour by which time, as usual, it was too late.

“We did our best to give them a hand; we turned quick ball into slow ball; our kicking game was generally ineffective and we had little idea what to do with the possession we did have.

“We were not aggressive enough and allowed them to get under our skin; it’s usually us that do that to the opposition.“

This was a game we had targeted as a definite win, a possible five-pointer, but in the end we were lucky to come out of it with one.”

From the outset the Tigers looked subdued and didn’t help themselves by playing 20 minutes a man short.

On 10 minutes Under Freeman Payne went too high in the tackle and was yellow-carded; within three minutes the visitors took full advantage.

Pressure close to the Sedgley line was rewarded with a penalty kick that was taken quickly and centre Seb Perkins cruised through a bemused Tigers’ defence to touch down between the posts, giving fly-half Tim Walsh the easiest of conversions: 0-7.

Play was scrappy with Newbury having the better of the exchanges particularly when it came to the kicking duel, but Sedgley built up a head of steam and were awarded a lineout on Newbury’s 22.

However, instead of letting referee Mr Wigglesworth deal with the Newbury infringements, a frustrated Glen Townson stamped on a Newbury player clearly offside at the ruck, so as Payne rejoined the fray, Townson departed it and the Tigers remained a man down.

At best the officiating was indifferent, yet that cannot be blamed for the loss, that is laid firmly and squarely at the feet of a Sedgley side that appeared devoid of any attacking nous.

They were not helped by the fact that when a Newbury player was guilty of a high-tackle he was merely warned, not carded.

As the half-time whistle beckoned Sedgley began to finally build some momentum, thanks to better ball retention. The pressure forced Newbury into conceding two successive penalties, and with the Tigers within five metres of the Newbury line the visitors conceded a third, however, Mr Wigglesworth never looked like even contemplating a penalty try, although Newbury prop Mark Irish was yellow-carded.

In the eighth minute of time-added-on Sedgley were awarded a penalty 38 metres from the Newbury posts and Tigers’ fly-half Phil Jones put the kick over to make it 3-7 to Newbury at the break.

Thirteen minutes after the restart a second Jones penalty took the Tigers to within a point of Newbury and as the game wore on it looked like Sedgley would have to settle for a losing bonus point.

That hope was shattered on 77 minutes when Newbury drove the home side back and elected to scrum a penalty five metres from the home line before driving over in the right-hand corner, Number 8 Tom Brown getting the touch down with Walsh once more adding the extras to seemingly deprive the Tigers’ of that losing bonus point.

Only then did Sedgley start to really threaten with their desperate approach rewarded in the sixth minute of time-added-on, when a finely weighted Jones miss-pass was scooped up by Hall, who in turn fed replacement Jan Van DeVenter and he raced over. Jones added the two points to eventually guarantee the losing bonus point.

However, it was not one point gained but four thrown away and more performances like this, especially against sides in the bottom three, could prove very costly indeed.

SEDGLEY PARK
Riley (Van DeVenter 74), Hall, Craig, Payne, Briers, Jones, Albinson (Wilkinson 68), Halsall (Birchall 71), Roddam, Du Plessis, Fourie, Townson (Norris 59), Newton (Crous 57), Ponton Skurr.
Replacements not used: Keys and Nutt.
Tries: Van DeVenter (80).
Conversions: Jones 1.
Penalties: Jones 2
Yellow cards: Payne (10 – High Tackle), Townson (20 – Stamping).

NEWBURY
Ashwin, Hylton, Rees, Perkins, Nutt, Walsh, Smaje, Irish, Standfield (Carter 28, Thompson-injury 78), Thompson (Faulkner 76), Hayter, Radbourne, Morgan, Abbott, Brown.
Replacements not used: Doherty, Styles, Turner, Simpson-Daniel, Henderson.
Tries: Perkins (13) and Brown (77).
Conversions: Walsh 2.
Yellow card: Irish (37 – High Tackle)