Sedgley bury a bogey

STOURBRIDGE...17pts SEDGLEY PARK...29pts

IN four attempts, Sedgley had never won at Stourbridge, but this record was laid to rest in emphatic style as the team ran in five tries; an impressive performance.

The opening ten minutes gave little indication of what was to follow. Sedgley were starved of possession and looked sluggish, falling 0-6 behind to two penalty goals by home full-back, Ben Harvey. Sedgley's best attacking moments had come from lively scrum-half, Dave McCormack, then a powerful break by lock, Paul Arnold, with Kern Yates in support, posed the first real scoring threat.

Sedgley were beginning to buzz. Tim Fourie was held up over the line and Stour survived the five-metre scrum, but now a nicely worked move brought Paul Morris in off the wing to set up a mid-field ruck 35 metres out. From this ruck, stand-off Rob Moon made the classic outside break, side-stepped one final defender and scored a try which he was unable to convert.

Stourbridge might have believed it was not to be their day when Sedgley scored again from the kick-off. Moon's long diagonal kick bounced first one way, then another, leaving two defenders sprawling. Centre, Sion O'Hare hacked on and, ironically, the ball bounced obligingly into Morris's hands for a simple try which, again, was not converted.

Harvey reduced Sedgley's lead to 10-9 at half-time with a long-range penalty, a score that did not reflect Sedgley's growing authority.

The second half began where the first one had left off, with Sedgley building patient pressure and being rewarded after six minutes with a close range try, McCormack the scorer under a pile of bodies. Moon converted from wide out.

Stourbridge again chipped away at the lead with another penalty goal, Harvey's fourth, before Sedgley scored the try that put some real daylight between the teams. Again the build-up was patient, ball retention good, before big centre Jon Scales burst onto a short pass to score near the posts. Moon's conversion made it 24-12. Stourbridge had looked a pale shadow of the side that had scored 49 points against Sedgley last season, but now they put together some good rugby and would have scored but for a wonderful cover tackle by lock, Ian Grainey. Immediately, on the opposite wing, Moon made another vital tackle, this one leading to a Sedgley counter-attack that covered some 65 metres before McCormack was tackled.

The game was opening up and Stourbridge now scored an outstanding try, a lovely handling move with great lines of running that ended with elusive wing, Lee Coates, scoring in the left corner.

With nearly 20 minutes left, there was still plenty of time for a Stour revival, but Sedgley killed them off with a try from a five-metre scrum, number 8, Fourie attacking the narrow side and presenting Morris with his second try.

Stourbridge finished the game strongly but Sedgley's scrummage dug deep a couple of times and there was no further score. Preston Grasshoppers are visitors to Park Lane this Saturday and will face a team high in confidence and on top form.

SEDGLEY PARK: Wilcock, Bullough, (Smith), Scales, O'Hare, Morris, Moon, McCormack, Alcock, (Johnson), Keyes, (Treco), Latham, Arnold, Grainey, (Stockdale), Senior, Yates, Fourie.