Tamworth undone in an away-day defeat
PAVIORS 34 TAMWORTH 20 Regional Two Midlands North
AFTER defeat against top of the table Long Eaton effectively ended Tamworth’s chances of promotion, they lost once again last weekend.
The cruel luck coming from having what looked like a narrow victory against Melbourne overturned on appeal days later after the referee got the score wrong on the day (You really couldn’t write it).
That debacle aside Tamworth looked to make amends with a trip to the Nottinghamshire countryside to face a Paviors side who couldn’t have ran them any closer in the fixture earlier in the season when Tamworth came out victors on that day by a single point.
The hosts started strongly forcing Tamworth into a couple of lengthy defensive sets which they coped with quite admirably frustrating the home side who were obviously looking to get off to a flying start.
It would in fact be Tamworth who scored first in what was probably their first meaningful attack. When the ball was secured at the breakdown it was shipped through the backs when they found themselves with a two versus one on the outside, Matt Williams timing his pass to perfection forcing the last defender to bite in on him leaving Jack Dalton with acres of space to cruise in at the corner. 0-5.
They extended their lead when Danny Norton slotted a penalty on twenty minutes, 0-8.
Paviors came right back into contention when Tamworth’s hearty defence was finally breached with a converted try coming after another lengthy period of sustained pressure. 7-8.
A penalty in their favour right on half time would see them go into the break with a two point lead 10-8, probably a fair reflection on the first forty minutes.
In exactly the same fashion as that Long Eaton game the wheels properly came off Tamworth’s day in the opening 20 minutes of the second half when they were hit by three tries in quick succession, two of which were converted, a disastrous period for the visitors where they were being outmuscled at scrum-time and seemed to really lose their way with the normally solid defence looking decidedly fragile.
This left them on the wrong end of a 21-point deficit and it was now going to be a long way back if they were to get anything from this fixture. 29-8.
Tamworth did rally somewhat with tries for Leighton Norton and Kit Smith either side of another Paviors score to make the final score 34-20 to the home side.
They are now only one point behind Tamworth who just held on to fourth place in the table, a spot they can hold with a win in the final league game away at third placed West Bridgford, a must if they are to finish in a position that reflects just how well they have played the for the better part of this season.