NEWBURY  20
SDEDGLEY TIGERS 18

National Division One

SECURING their ninth bonus point of the season, the Tigers would gladly have swapped it for the four for the win, as once again they lost a game they could and should have won.

They took the lead in the opening minute when Phil Jones kicked a 45-metre penalty, but two minuites later it was all square as his opposite number, Chris Ashwin, replied with a 20-metre effort.

Jones then restored the Tigers’ lead on 10 minutes with his second three-pointer of thre afternoon, as the Tigers looked composed both in attack and defence, with the main difference being an effective kicking game from both Jones at fly-half and Steve Nutt at fullback.

However, handling errors haunted both sides as they sought to build up momentum, with both defences proving effective.

As the first quarter drew to a close Jones extended his side’s lead to six points with his third penalty kick, a more straight forward 25-metre shot.

The Tigers then began to string together some extended periods of possession, which in turn forced Newbury into conceding another penalty on 26 minutes and Jones duly obliged with kick number four to push the score on to 3-12 to the Whitefield men.

On the half-hour Newton and Craig combined well to send Briers on his way to the Newbury line; he slipped a few metres short but possession was retained and Fourie, Ponton and Du Plessis ensured it found Jones, who popped over a 35-metre drop goal to make it 3-15 to the Tigers at the break.

The expected second-half home backlash took just two minutes to take effect and a powerful charge by second row Gregor Hayter was finished off by centre Seb Perkins, with the conversion taking the score to 10-15.

The Tigers hit back with a prolonged rolling maul, rewarded with a 38-metre penalty, but this time Jones was off-target with his kick.

Skurr then set up Craig and Briers for a two-on-one down the left flank, but Briers took the wrong option and was tackled five metres short of the Newbury line.

Jones was handed a sixth shot at goal on 57 minutes, but this time the ball rebounded back into play off the right post.

Minutes later the Tigers paid the price for the miss. A long kick down the touchline was fielded by Briers 10 metres from his own line and instead of off-loading to Steve Nutt he tried to run his way out of trouble but was caught and isolated in the tackle, giving Newbury a penalty for not releasing.

The home took a quick tap and swung the ball right to left where replacement Martin Nutt crashed over close to the posts to give skipper Tim Walsh the easiest of kicks to put Newbury in the lead for the first time.

Yet within minutes the Tigers regained it, with Jones kicking his fifth three-pointer from 45 metres to make it 17-18.

A nail-biting final quarter saw the Tigers change tack and kick their next penalty for touch; the resulting lineout won, they drove the Newbury line but couldn’t force their way over.

Turnover ball saw the home side take play down the right-hand touchline where Tigers’ skipper Jimmy Ponton tackled a Newbury player without the ball on his own 22 and Walsh kicked the resulting penalty to put his side back in the lead at 20-18.

As the clock ticked down Newbury went all out to score another try to rob the Tigers of even a losing bonus point; but their defence was up to the challenge and they survived to claim one point when four, or even five were there for the taking.

NEWBURY: Walsh, Henderson, Perkins (Tombleson), Pozzebon, Hylton, Ashwin (M. Nutt), M. Simpson-Daniel, Irish, Standfield (Fincken), Thompson, Hayter, Radbourne (T. Payne), Morgan (Chance), Abbott, Brown.
Replacements not used: Carter and Rees.
Tries: Perkins and M. Nutt.
Conversions: Ashwin 1, Walsh 1.
Penalties: Ashwin 1, Walsh 1.

SEDGLEY TIGERS: S. Nutt, F. Payne, Craig, Riley, Briers, Jones. J. Albinson, Gazzola, Roddam, Du Plessis (A. Livesey 70), Fourie, Norris, Newton, Ponton, Skurr.
Replacements not used: Greenhalgh, Roberts, Senior, Birchall, D. Livesey, T. Albinson.
Penalties: Jones 5.
Drop goals: Jones.