Sedgley Park coach Steve Hazzelby says the team will work hard to make sure they bounce back from a below-par display in their 49-14 National One defeat at struggling Taunton Titans last Saturday.

The bottom-placed side shocked Sedgley for just their fifth win of the campaign and Hazzelby admits the Tigers will need to be much better against Bishop's Stortford on Saturday.

He said: “We have a lot to work on this week before we go again next Saturday.

“Our set-piece needs to be a lot better and we need to win the collisions and convert pressure into points every time we get in their 22.

“We know we are a better team than the scoreline suggests, but this was a poor performance from the boys and a big improvement is expected in our next game.”

Sedgley started brightly, looking to move the ball wide and building phases in Taunton’s half. However, their defence was solid driving the visitors back and winning most of the collisions. Their transition from defence to attack was excellent and their counter attack was rapid, making a number of lovely line breaks.

Their first try came after six minutes with a powerful drive through their forwards followed by a penalty three minutes late.

Sedgley replied with a well-worked try for winger Andy Riley after quick hands a great offload by second row Oscar Crowe. Warren Seals added the conversion to make it 8-7 with 20 minutes to go in the half.

Taunton hit back, and on 26 minutes they scored again after a catch-and-drive from their forwards and added a third score seven minutes later with another powerful drive putting them 20-7 in the lead.

Sedgley tried to move the ball wide, but a dropped pass saw the Titans full-back gather and race 60 metres to touch down under the posts and give them their fourth and bonus-point try. A second penalty three minutes later saw them go into the break 30-7 up.

The Tigers had a mountain to climb in the second half but Taunton continued to pressure the Tigers in every aspect of play and went on to score three more tries and thoroughly deserved the win.

Sedgley did manage to get on the scoreboard with a penalty try after a good catch-and-drive through the forwards but the game was long over.