DANNY Waddy set the wheels in motion with the first try in Sedgley Tigers’ comfortable 35-10 victory at Luctonians on Saturday.

And coach Geoff Roberts believes the back row forward is proving to be an important summer acquisition after the 26-year-old former Sale FC player ran in his sixth try of the season.

Tigers had fallen behind to an early penalty before Waddy took his now accustomed position at the back of a driving maul then touched down to give the visitors a seventh-minute lead.

They coasted to victory following further scores from Jamie Harrison, Johnny Matthews and a bonus-point fourth try from Callum McShane, along with three conversions and three penalties from Steve Collins.

The win, combined with a surprise defeat for promotion rivals Stourbridge at Preston Grasshoppers, helped Sedgley move back into second place, 10 points behind National League Division Two North leaders Macclesfield.

“Danny has scored a good few tries for us this season and has proved to be very good on the back of that driving maul,” said Roberts.

“He seems to have adopted that role and is doing a very good job at it, so he's proving an important acquisition.”

Tigers never looked back after Waddy’s opening score, with Harrison running in the try of the match six minutes later following a flowing move.

Collins added three penalties to take the score to 23-3 by the break and the match was all but over after Matthews added a third try three minutes into the second half.

Luctonians added a try of their own on the hour, just after Matt Riley was sin-binned for a technical infringement, but McShane wrapped up the win and the bonus point with another well-worked try 13 minutes from time.

“The day could not have gone better for us, really,” said Roberts.

“Luctonians has proved a tough place for us in the past. We were beaten here last season and squeezed a narrow win the year before.

“And they had been playing pretty well in recent weeks, beating Leicester Lions here, which is not an easy task.

“But we just did everything right, playing the territory well and standing up to them when they tried to rough us up.

“I thought we kicked pretty well and pretty much ran the show.

“The defence was superb. It seemed like they threw a lot as but looked to be going backwards in possession. I think they found it really hard to make ground but whenever we got the ball we carried it and made good yards.

“Jamie’s try was probably the pick of the bunch. It was a lovely try worked well across the back line, something they had been working on.

“Callum’s final try was also very important. Again, it was run in from our own half.

“To get the bonus point was something we had been aiming for, and with Stourbridge losing all of a sudden we have moved back above them into the play-off spot.”

Tigers also have two games in hand of their promotion rivals and will be eager to maintain the momentum when they host seventh-placed Sandal, who ended their unbeaten start to the season in the reverse fixture.