Tamworth Victorious On The Road Again

Tamworth continued the form that has seen them win seven of their last eight games when they overcame a Crewe and Nantwich side who were sitting fourth in the league with still a slim chance of promotion.
This is also a fixture that traditionally has seen Tamworth get scant rewards from having never won there in recent times.
The visitors started well and only took five minutes to get the scoreboard rolling when Crewe were penalised at the breakdown. Danny Norton returning after two weeks out with a hamstring injury slotting his kick between the posts (0-3)
Things got even better for Tamworth ten minutes later when their forwards camped out on Crewe’s try line and as the hosts committed more and more bodies into repelling them up stepped eighteen year old centre Liam Saayman to exploit the gap left behind as he dived over to score his debut first team try. Norton added the extra’s and Tamworth led by ten.
Crewe got themselves on the score sheet with penalty as Tamworth were adjudged to have strayed offside. (3-10)
This seemed to give them the boost they needed as they now had Tamworth on the back foot and got themselves right back in contention when a quick tap penalty saw them score a nice try in the corner. The kick for the extras drifted just wide but the hosts had reduced the deficit to just two points (8-10)
The rest of the first half saw the sides exchange penalties Crewe briefly taking a one point lead before Norton was successful from the tee to end the half with Tamworth just shading it (11-13).
Another Norton penalty ten minutes into the second period extended Tamworth’s advantage before another Crewe mini fight back saw them take the lead as they slotted a penalty before scoring another good converted try to lead (21-16)
If Tamworth have proven one thing this season is that they never give up and as injuries to Crewe’s front row players meant the game had to continue with non contested scrums and Crewe reduced to fourteen which soon became thirteen as a Crewe player was sent to the sin bin for dangerous play the scene was set for a revival of Tamworth’s fortunes in this fixture as they set about making their numerical advantage count on the scoreboard.
This they did with firstly Eamonn Carroll flying in the corner then Ross Bingam scoring from a quick tap penalty with Norton converting both to take Tamworth back into a commanding lead with only three minutes left. Tamworth saw out this remaining time to complete an excellent win on the road.
Coach Nigel Hall said afterwards “ I’m more than pleased with our lads today this is never an easy place to come and get a result for us It’s a pretty long trip and very partisan support but the lads dealt with it all today. I felt we had them on the back foot in the first half but our own errors kept them in the hunt but in the second half we did exactly what we had to do to put the game to bed and I think finally this group of players are realising how good they are and indeed how good they could be. We have one game left at home against Leek in a fortnight. They were crowned league champions today so well done to them but we will go out there and do everything in our power to cause an upset”
Final Score
Crewe & Nantwich 21
Tamworth 31