Park Lane in Rams raid as Sedgley humbled

By JOE BARNES-TAYLOR

Sedgley P ………20pts

Tries: M Riley 41, Maher 71

Conversions: Seals 42, 72

Penalties: Seals 2, 19

Rams ………………41pts

Tries: Hoadley 10, Kidd 30, Hayman 44, Atkins 56, Swain 63, Bird 80

Conversions: Honey 11, 31, 45, 64

Penalties: Honey 40

SEDGLEY Park's unbeaten run at Park Lane came to an end as Rams took home a bonus-point victory in an early top-ofthe-table clash.

Rams who looked very strong last season would be coming into the game as favourites.

The away side were looking to build on from their start to the campaign and their comefrom-behind victory against Chinnor last week.

Sedgley were also looking to improve on what was an impressive start after their last-minute win against Chinnor and a dominant win over Birmingham Moseley respectively.

It was the home team who started brightly with an early penalty kick from Warren Seals, which saw Sedgley take the lead within the first two minutes of the game.

However, the first try of the game came from Rams in a phase of play which saw the ball moved from left to right and a gap was created in the Tigers defence. A lovely move was finished off by scrum-half Edward Hoadley and converted by Fraser Honey.

A penalty kick from Seals added more points to the board for Sedgley Park which kept them in the game. Next came a contested maul inside the Sedgley five-metre line, which was eventually bundled over by Niall Kidd. Honey added the extras.

Just on the stroke of the half-time interval, a penalty kicked by Honey sent the visitors in at the break 17-6 up.

The first half was a tightly-contested contest, Sedgley Park dominated the possession of the ball, but errors inside the Rams final third killed their momentum and they couldn't convert that into points.

Big moments: Axel Kalling-Smith breaks to set-up Ram's first try and Daniel Maher touches down for the Tigers' second

PICTURES: Gareth Lyons

It was a lively start to the second half with Sedgley the first to act.

A run from just over the halfway line by Rhys Henderson saw him tackled on the five-metre line and an audacious offload sent Matthew Riley through – Seals adding the extras.

But a rapid reply from Max Hayman for Rams and conversion from Honey followed.

Rams took further control of the game with tries from Benjamin Atkins and Daniel Swain. Sedgley reduced the deficit with a try from Danny Maher and conversion from Seals.

There was a nasty collision between two Sedgley Park players which left Tom Ailes in a heap, but he seemed to be OK.

The wind had been taken from Sedgley's sails as the tie was finished off with a last-minute score from Henry Bird.