SEDGLEY PARK           10 

BEDFORD BLUES         8  

National League Division One  

ATTITUDE was the difference in this tight contest between the bottom two Tigers and top six Blues. Who says so? Tigers’ backs’ coach Andy Northey, that’s who. 

While Director of Rugby Tim Fourie was having a nasty leg wound cleaned and stitched, Northey paid tribute to his patched together charges. 

“What won us the game? – a positive attitude,” he said: “We simply wanted it more than they did; we impressed our game upon them and would not take a backward step. 

“We had a simple game plan that began with a commitment to defence. It takes a lot of determination, concentration and resolve to weather long periods of defence, but we showed all those qualities and more, while in attack we kept hold of the ball and used the rolling maul as a base from which to exploit possession and space."

He then paid tribute to Fourie: “He most epitomised what we were about, he showed that attitude in bucketfuls. 

“He suffered a deep cut early on but would not come off and continued to play like the warrior he is, but then again we had a team of warriors out there with him.”  

Not many sides in ND1 will have 12 players unavailable but that’s what Sedgley had to deal with, only managing to name a match-day 22 having raided the second team and Sale’s available Jets players. 

The Tigers started with Matt Riley, on loan from Sale, making his Sedgley debut at fullback, having never played there before.

Also making his first start of the season was stand-off Tom Albinson on the wing, while on the bench was Henry Monsell, featuring for the first time at first team level.  

Add to that the fact that three of those on the bench were either still recovering from injury or were still suffering and would only go on in extreme circumstances, and it possible to appreciate just what an achievement this win was. 

The previous two games against Coventry and Doncaster had seen the Tigers go behind within minutes of the kick-off, but against the Blues they were determined that would not happen. That commitment to defence was highlighted by the amount of times the Tigers won turnover ball when on the back foot in the opening 10 minutes. 

Usually when Phil Jones has a poor afternoon with the boot the Tigers suffer, but the former England A international more than made up for it with his tackling, and then there was Riley at fullback. His size accentuated his confidence and when called upon his boot did the job of relieving pressure and moving play downfield. He held station when required and joined the line at the right time. 

Having won Bedford call ball at a lineout on half-way Adam Newton, in fine dogged form, fed the onrushing Riley and the Sale man made a strong break that resulted in a 35-metre penalty for Jones, but he was uncharacteristically off target. 

As the half wore on the Sedgley lineout began to improve its success rate. If ball retention was ugly then the resulting rolling mauls were a thing of beauty, regularly making over 20 metres. 

On 25 minutes Bedford won a scrum against the head on the Sedgley 10-metre line but could not make the break through they wanted and settled for the shot at goal, which stand-off Ross Broadfoot kicked to give them a 0-3 lead.

The effectiveness of Sedgley’s rolling maul was being restricted by referee Mr. ApGeraint-Roberts’ interpretation of the accidental off-side rule which resulted in bringing galloping charges to a premature halt on more than one occasion. 

However, a strong return punt from Riley forced a knock-on from a Bedford player and resulted in the Tigers having the put-in at a scrum 30 metres from the Bedford line. With ball won Number 8 Jon Skurr picked and drove with the ball finding its way to Ledua Jope, who came in from his line and combined well with scrum-half Jamie Albinson who was impeded illegally. Jones kicked the penalty for field position and from the resulting five-metre lineout the powerful catch-and-drive was capped on 34 minutes with Skurr touching down for his fifth try of the season. Jones was unable to add the conversion but the Tigers led 5-3. 

At the start of the second half Sedgley once more had to withstand some intense early pressure before driving play down the other end and making the Blues defend five metres from their line for a sustained period of time. 

The pressure was eventually rewarded. From a lineout 18 metres from the Blues’ line Ed Norris leapt to claim possession and the rolling maul did the rest, with wing Jope again coming infield to join the juggernaut and claim the final touch for Sedgley’s second try. Jones’ boot was again unsuccessful but the Tigers nevertheless led 10-3, eight minutes after the re-start. 

In response the Blues began to introduce their replacements in the hope of unearthing a winning combination. But they came up against the likes of Norris, who had probably his best game so far for the Tigers and in particular put in one thundering tackle that turned ball over and sent Jamie Albinson haring downfield. 

However, Bedford did begin to build up a head of steam but it was not until the 73^rd minute that it bore fruit. Pressure exerted from a successful catch-and-drive resulted in a penalty and from the next lineout the rolling maul took play all the way to the Tigers’ line where replacement Chris Johnson claimed the touchdown to put the visitors within a conversion of parity. But fullback James Pritchard’s attempted two-pointer was way off target and the Tigers still led 10-8. 

Sedgley played out the final minutes of the game within Bedford’s 22 and twice looked like they had claimed try number three only to be deprived by Mr. ApGeraint-Roberts. But in the end it didn’t matter and win number three was well and truly claimed.

SEDGLEY PARK: Riley, Jope, Briers, Voortman, T. Albinson, P. Jones, J. Albinson, Evans, M. Jones, Halsall (Keys 74), Fourie, Norris, Newton (Bennett 65), Ponton, Skurr. Replacements not used: Roberts, Gazzola, Livesey, Duffy, Monsell. Tries: Skurr 34, Jope 48.  

BEDFORD BLUES: Pritchard, Hinkins, Roberts (Youngs 65), Allen, Kendall (Dickson 50), Broadfoot (Patston 55), Page, Alexander (Graham 60), Whitehead (Johnson 50), Cole, Phillips, Comb (Botha 50), Strauss, Brown (Brady 50), Kettle. Tries: Johnson 73. Penaties: 1.