Sedgley Park bounced back from a heavy National One defeat the week before to beat Taunton Titans 32-28 on home soil.

The Tigers put in the perfect response after their Rosslyn Park reverse and coach Steve Hazzelby praised their efforts.

He said: “We were hoping for a better performance after the disappointment of the defeat at Rosslyn Park and while Taunton had a poor start to the season, all of their results were very close to a number of the top teams so we knew this would be another hard, difficult challenge.

“But it was an immense effort from the whole squad to get the victory and special mention goes to hooker Danny Maher, who was awarded man of the match, and also young winger Alex Wills on his try-scoring debut.”

The visitors from Somerset started strongly with a try within the first minute after a miss-tackle by the Tigers saw the ball moved quickly to the left for the Titans winger to score in the top corner.

The reaction was almost immediate from the hosts as big second-row, Oscar Crowe, crashed over after good driving play within the visitors’ 22.

Fly-half Warren Seals added the conversion to level the scores at 7-7.

Sedgley continued to test the Taunton defence every time they had the ball and a good passage of play saw the ball moved quickly to debut left winger, Alex Wills, who went through three defenders to touch down in the bottom left-hand corner and put the home side in the lead with most of the half to go.

Five minutes later, great driving play by the forwards - who built phase after phase - saw the ball moved this time to right winger Rhys Henderson, who beat the covering defence to touch down in the bottom right-hand corner and make it 17-7 going into the last 20 minutes of the half.

The Sedgley defence sets in this first half were labelled “immense” by Hazzelby as his side repelled time after time the Taunton attack.

Their discipline was excellent as they only conceded four penalties which denied the visitors territory and possession.

The half-time score was 17-7 to the Tigers but the away team were the first on the scoresheet after the break when a lovely chip over by the fly-half was gathered for them to touch down under the posts and bring them back into it after just two minutes.

However, again, the Tigers reacted and a penalty by Seals in the 52nd minute further extended their lead to 20-14.

Nine minutes later, a penalty catch-and-drive by the forwards saw hooker Danny Maher touch down to give Sedgley a fourth and bonus-point try and a 25-14 lead for some breathing space.

It was a great game of open, fast rugby by two teams not afraid to play from all areas of the pitch and Taunton to their credit came back with a well-worked converted try of their own to get back in the game at 25-21 going into the last 10 minutes.

However, another catch-and-drive by the home forwards deep in their 22 saw the Tigers score their fifth try, converted by Seals.

Taunton did score their fourth try right on the final whistle to give them a well-deserved bonus point but it was victory for the home side and a five-point bonus-point win.

This Saturday Sedgley hit the long road to face Hertfordshire side Bishop Stortford, hoping to put in another solid performance and maintain their position in the top half of the table.