THERE was no disgrace in losing to an Albion side pushing for a place in the Guinness Premiership, especially when taking into consideration Sedgley's lengthening list of players unavailabe through injury or other commitments, problems the likes of Albion rarely have to deal with. So to come away on the wrong end of a 30-6 scoreline was not as bad as it seems, indeed it does not do Sedgley justice.

PLYMOUTH ALBION         30

SEDGLEY PARK                6 

National League Division One  

DEPRIVED of 10 players through a combination of injury, recall and unavailability, a patched-up Sedgley outfit featuring lock/backrow Ledua Jope on the wing and wing/centre Andy Vilk at fullback, the Tigers nevertheless battled away and by no means made this an easy win for Graham Dawes title chasers.

Without Arno De Jager, Chris Wilkinson, Chris Hall, Jaco Swart, Gareth Roberts, Saula Roko (all injured), Ratu Naulivou, Alex Bennett (work commitments), Martin Halsall and Ben Lloyd (recalled by Sale Sharks), it was always going to be difficult to put together a side capable of beating Albion, especially when a number of those lining up were carrying injuries, but that did not stop the Tigers from having a go.

The home side took lead on three minutes through the boot of young South African fullback Wihan Neethling, with the help of the left-hand post, but Sedgley started brightly, with Vilk, on loan from Sale Sharks, looking comfortable at 15 despite the fact it is not his natural position.

He caught the high bombs confidently and either kicked or ran the ball back into contact strongly, rarely losing possession, setting up some good attacking moves.

As the first quarter wore on Sedgley began to grow in confidence and mounted several attacks thwarted only by unforced handling errors.  

On 16 minutes Albion extended their lead when they kicked a penalty from half-way and from the resulting lineout the ball was swung along the back line where Ed Barnes popped a pass inside to centre Regardt Van Eyk on the diagonal run and he scampered over the Tigers line 10 metres to the right of the posts to give Neethling a straight forward conversion to make it 10-0.

The Tigers then had to withstand a sustained period of pressure before on the half-hour Phil Jones kicked a 35-metre penalty to reduce the gap to seven points, but within in two minutes Neethling extended pushed it back out to 10 again with a second penalty.

The Tigers then threatened down the right with Skurr, Jones and Voortman all involved before Albion grabbed a second try.

After stealing possession at a lineout they then won scrum ball and winger Tom Arscott beat the Sedgley defence with his speed before off-loading to Argentinean flanker Frederico Genoud who went over between the posts with Neethling adding the two points to make it 20-3 to Albion at half-time.

From the re-start Plymouth regained possession and as the move progressed down the right they thought they had claimed their third try, but solid defence from the Tigers saw the Albion ball carrier held up over the line.

However, from the resulting five-metre scrum the renowned Plymouth pack controlled possession, maintained the push and lock Ben Gulliver dived on the ball over the line for his side’s third try to make it 25-6.

At this stage the Tigers could very easily have been overwhelmed but they stuck to their task and continued to show grit and determination, but continued to be frustrated with handling errors letting them down.

Albion claimed the bonus four-try point on the hour, with former Tiger, hooker Richard Oxley taking the short pass from a lineout catch-and-drive to go over by the right corner flag; 30-6.

With a quarter of the game left and players like Joe Knowles and Paul Keys making their first appearances of the season in a Tigers shirt, Sedgley could have been forgiven for shipping even more points, but they didn’t.

That was down to sheer guts, determination and a genuine desire to try to turn things around, even at such a late stage.  

They pounced on the barest inkling of complacency in the Albion ranks and in possession drove the ball towards the home line at every opportunity, with forwards and backs combining well to maintain almost constant pressure.

With prop Scott Zimmerman in the sin-bin after picking up a yellow card, only dropped balls, missed passes and the occasional turnover prevented them from crossing the Albion line.  

Indeed, had Tim Fourie been able to pick from a full squad, this could have been a very different game; however even in defeat the Tigers could hold their heads high in the knowledge that Plymouth had expected and experienced a tough game in which their lowly opponents had refused to take a backward step.  

PLYMOUTH ALBION: Neethling, Arscott, Van Eyk, Fisilau (Cruikshanks 74), Sestaret, Barnes (Saumi 74), Lewsey (Newman 74), Rice, Oxley (Owen 74), Zimmerman (Lowrie 74), Stewart, Gulliver, Genoud (Mathias 69, yellow card), Thomas (Stroud 26, blood), Hayes. Tries: Van Eyk (16), Genoud (38), Gulliver (50), and Oxley (60). Conversions: Neethling (2). Penalties: Neethling (2). Yellow cards: Zimmerman 69.