SEDGLEY Tigers roared over the finish line in fine style, confirming their place in the National Two play-offs with a thumping 62-27 victory at home to Preston Grasshoppers on Saturday.

The day started with a worrying collision between captain Juan Crous and Mike Smith in the warm-up that ruled both players out of the starting line-up.

But after a late reshuffle of the squad, coach Geoff Roberts said the rest of the afternoon went like clockwork as the Park Lane men ran in 10 tries to seal second spot in National Two North to set up a winner-takes-all game at either Cambridge or Old Albanians on May 14.

"It was a bit of a disastrous start for us, with Juan hurting his neck and Mike rolling his ankle," said Roberts.

"Both players will probably miss our remaining two league games but thankfully they should be fine for the play-offs.

"After that the day went like a dream.

"I don't know whether it was amazing play from us or just that Preston were not at the races but they could not contain us and we ran them off the park.

"It was a fabulous way to seal our play-off place. We wanted to secure our spot as early as possible and now it is just a case of making sure everyone is fit for the promotion decider."

Sedgley were 47-3 up at the break after Johnny Matthews ran in two tries and Liam West, Andy Riley, Danny Waddy, Bob Birtwell and Rob Holloway also touched down, while Steve Collins kicked six conversions.

Preston managed a fightback, of sorts, in the second half with four tries, two converted, but Sedgley piled on the misery with three more unconverted tries from Riley, Sam Lowthian and Matt Lamprey.

The Tigers now have two dead rubbers at Broadstreet on Saturday and Harrogate the following weekend before their date with destiny in the divisional play-off.

Roberts knows his side will face a difficult away trip, with home advantage going to the side with the highest points tally at the end of the season.

The maximum Sedgley can achieve is 108, while current Division Two South leaders Cambridge are already on 125 points and second-placed Old Albanians are on 123, with one game left to play this weekend.

Both could still win the title, meaning the Tigers cannot draw up a gameplan for the play-off until after this weekend, when their opponents will be confirmed.

But Roberts said: "We could sit down and watch all of their games this season, as they are all uploaded to a cloud, but that is not really our style, we like to play our own game and let the opposition worry about us.

"The beauty is that this is a one-off, when anything can happen on the day, so we will take a lot of confidence from our performance against Preston and just go for it.

"What is good is that we are not taking a trip into the unknown. We have played at Cambridge many times before and had a couple of matches at Old Albanians when we were last in National One, so we know what to expect.

"In the three seasons we have had since dropping down to National Two North we have finished fourth, third and now second, so there has been a progression.

"We now just have to prove we are ready to make that step back up and I am confident we can do that, whoever we play."