Sedgley Park Tigers ......30
Redruth Reds ................18
For most of the opening quarter of this National League One match it was the Steve Nutt show, as the Tigers’ fullback gave his side a 10-point lead, courtesy of a penalty kick, a try and a conversion.
The three-pointer came in the opening 60 seconds; it then it took another 15 minutes of intense forward pressure before he added the touchdown.
From the base of a scrum just outside the Redruth 22, Tigers’ Number 8 Ben Lloyd went on a rampaging run, offloading to Chris Hall who in turn found Nutt who ran a great line to go in between the posts before adding the extras.
The boot of Redruth’s Brett Rule then pulled back three points but the Tigers trumped it with another try.
Richard Wainwright, impressively filling the boots of injured playmaker Phil Jones, linked well with Hall to send Garth Dew in for a well worked score, converted by Nutt to give the Tigers a 17-3 lead on 26 minutes.
Redruth were allowed to build the phases and a poor clearance kick was pounced on by winger Nathaniel Pedley, who found Craig Bonds in space and he won the sprint for the line to score in the left-hand corner to cut the Tigers’ lead to 17-8 at half-time.
Nutt began the second half as he had the first, kicking a penalty within the opening minute, but Redruth gained the numerical advantage when Tigers’ Richard Tafa was sin-binned and the Redruth forwards worked the phases and drove play downfield, where Damien Cook powered over for an unconverted try.
In response the Tigers simply dug deeper. They stopped another Redruth drive and counter attacked with backs and forwards, combining well to send Mike Roberts down the left wing and he in turn found Hall in support who finished off a great team try, improved by Nutt.
Redruth battled on and thought they’d had the last word when Mark Bright started a move on his own 22, rounded off by Pedley.
But finishing as he started, Nutt moved the score on with a third penalty kick to ensure the Tigers wrapped up win number eight.
