Newbury 27 Sedgley Tigers 30, National League One (From Prestwich and Whitefield Guide)

Newbury 27 Sedgley Tigers 30, National League One

4:46pm Wednesday 29th April 2009

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FOUR tries ensured the Tigers rounded off the season on a winning note.

They grabbed the lead within 40 seconds when Peter Swatkins intercepted the ball and left the Blues’ defence in his wake to sprint 80 metres to the home line.

Nine minutes later the Tigers doubled their lead. From a penalty deep in the Newbury half, play was switched first one way then the other, before flanker Adam Newton drove over in the left hand corner to make it 12-0.

Newbury then pulled back six points through two Stevenson penalties to halve the Tigers’ lead.

Three minutes before half-time, Newton was yellow-carded and Newbury’s Tom Fidler barrelled over from close range and Stevenson kicked the conversion to give the home side a one point lead at the break.

However, within a minute of the restart Jones kicked the Tigers back in front. With Martin Nutt yellow-carded, Jones kicked a second penalty to extend the Tigers’ lead to five points.

Referee Michael Tutty kept the sin-bin busy by flashing his yellow card this time to Jones, making it 14-a-side.

Soon after Newbury’s Nutt also saw yellow again to restore the man-advantage to the visitors who made the most of it, turning a penalty into points as Juan Crous crashed over.

Riley stepped up to notch the conversion and move the score on to 13-25. But Newbury would not give in. Awarded a penalty, they elected to scrum five metres from the Tigers’ line. Number eight Adrian Griffiths picked up from the base and carried the ball over the line to keep the home side in it. Adam Griffiths added the two-pointer and scoreboard read 25-20 to the Tigers.

The visitors continued to use the ball well, with patient handling rounded off by replacement Matt Lamprey bulldozing over in the corner to stretch his side’s lead to 10 points with just a few minutes to go.

Newbury continued to pressure the Tigers’ line and eventually, deep into time-added on, replacement scrum-half Waylon Gasson touched down to ensure this high-scoring, entertaining end-of-season game went right to the wire.

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