JOHNNY Matthews led a Sedgley Tigers scoring blitz, running in five of their 12 tries in Saturday's 76-35 win at home to Luctonians.

The hooker carried the ball well all afternoon, powering through the visiting defence in the fifth minute to kick off a run of three unanswered tries for Sedgley inside the opening quarter of an hour.

Matthews added another two tries to his personal tally either side of the break before being given a well-earned rest.

But showed his versatility to return in place of injured winger Jamie Harrison late in the game and rounded off the rout with two lung busting runs.

The comprehensive victory ended a sequence of two straight draws for the National Two North title chasers and moved them up to third place, one point behind leaders Caldy.

"It was the perfect performance from us really," said coach Geoff Roberts.

"The forwards had a really good day out and the backs just played off them.

"All our set-pieces were good – the scrum was solid, the lineouts were great, our driving maul was tremendous – Luctonians just could not get hold of us.

"Obviously, Johnny Matthews will earn the plaudits for his five tries.

"He showed just what a powerful carrier of the ball he is and had an outstanding game, but I thought Max Skofic was different class.

"The really good number sevens never give the opposition a minute's peace, always harassing them and affecting play, and that's exactly what he did.

"Max had a hand in one or two of the tries, but was so quick around the park and strong in the tackle – he got through a tremendous amount of work."

While Matthews ran in five tries at regular intervals throughout the game, the Tigers' other seven were shared among seven different scorers.

Captain Juan Crous and winger Harrison quickly followed up Matthews' opener to put Sedgley 21-0 up after 15 minutes.

Tries followed from Shaun Needham and Alex Powell, sandwiched either side of another Matthews score to make it 40-14 at the break.

Sedgley stretched their lead by another 10 points with two quick tries at the start of the second half – Matthews' third of the game followed by a score from Sam Lowthian.

The Tigers' coaching staff took the opportunity to rest a number of their key players and Luctonians hit back with three tries of their own, to take their tally to five.

But Callum McShane ran over for Sedgley to keep the visitors at bay and a burst of three tries in the final eight minutes – two more from Matthews before Rob Holloway rounded off the scoring – completed a successful day for the home side.

"A real bonus was the chance to give some of the fringe players a little game time," added Roberts.

"The bench was as strong as it had been for a number of weeks and with us going into such a commanding lead we were able to try one or two things.

"Paul Urmston was given a chance at number 10, while new signing Mark Goodman played well after coming on for the second half."

Sedgley travel to Sheffield Tigers this weekend hoping to pounce if leaders Caldy or second-placed Sale fail to earn maximum points in tough away matches at South Leicester and Leicester Lions respectively.