SEDGLEY PARK...23 STOURBRIDGE...15: THE weather may have been dark, cold and drizzly, but the rugby sparkled as Sedgley once again showed resilience to overcome strong opponents.

Stourbridge began strongly, running hard and straight and rucking fiercely, so much so that they had scored two tries in the first ten minutes.

If the first try was good, centre Toby Wilson scoring from Nathan Bressingtons inside pass, the second was even better. Centre Alastair McLaughlin made the break, stand-off Craig Jones floated out a lovely pass, winger Jon Hall got the touchdown.

The usually prolific Ben Harvey missed both conversion kicks but Ryno Ueckermann was on target for Sedgley when the visitors were penalised for pulling down a driving maul.

Two more similar offences in quick succession resulted in Stourbridge prop James Hadfield being consigned to the bin, and Richard Oxleys accurate line-out throw brought a try for Richard Senior; Ueckermanns conversion levelled the scores at 10-10.

Sedgley were beginning to play with some authority. Untidy Stourbridge scrummage ball was hacked on by Kern Yates to gain a toe-hold inside the 22, Stourbridge were again penalised, for an illegal tackle this time, and Sedgley once more went for the kill with a kick to the corner. But this time the throw was crooked and the chance was lost.

Stourbridge had had little of the play since their early successes but now they put together an attack that seemed certain to bring reward until a silly punch not only saw them penalised but also gave prop Virgil Hartland a ten minutes rest, and 10-all it remained to half-time.

Conditions were becoming thoroughly unpleasant and the second half began with an unattractive bout of aerial ping-pong, interspersed with handling errors.

The deadlock was finally broken by Ueckermanns kick to the corner and a loose Stourbridge line-out, Tim Fourie hurling himself over the line for Ueckermann to convert, another fine kick by the South African.

Any thoughts that Sedgley might now ease to victory were quickly dispelled when two players were sin-binned in quick succession, centre Carlos Hassan for a late-tackle and scrum-half Dave McCormack for a deliberate knock-on. Sedgley supporters felt that the line-out offence in which Paul Arnold was upended and injured was far worse and merited a red card, but the perpetrator escaped with a telling off.

Sedgley defended well until restored to full strength and went further ahead through another penalty, but a fine break by the elusive Wilson brought a try in the corner for winger Bressington.

Sedgley's lead was reduced to 20-15, but the home team finished strongly, Ross Bullough almost scoring from a kick ahead and Ueckemann rounding off a good performance with his 5th successful kick of the afternoon.

SEDGLEY PARK: P Roberts, Bullough, Hassan, De Jager, Lowdon; Ueckermann, McCormack; G Roberts, Oxley, Thomas; Arnold, Stockdale; Senior, Yates, Fourie. Subs: Pinnick, Keys, Lloyd, Wilkinson.

STOURBRIDGE: Cook; Bressington, Wilson, McLaughlin, Hall; Jones, Harvey; Hadfield, Southwell, Hartland; Barker, N Mitchell; Tideswell, Meadows, Horrobin. Subs: Sturdy, Viggers, Tisdale, C Mitchell.