Tamworth welcomed Paviors to Wiggington Park this week looking to halt the run of results that had fixed them firmly to the bottom of the table.
In an effort to bolster the side they called on a number of “ More Senior “ members of the playing staff who in certain cases came out of retirement to answer the call.
Danny Norton returned to fly half with Tom Scott coming back into the front row after recovering from injury.
He was joined in the pack by Jamie Lawrence and Gary Jones both fantastic servants to the club over the years. But neither of which had featured in the first team for a few seasons.
These four had a combined age of 68 when they first pulled on a Tamworth jersey together. Now with a combined age of 144 they were reunited on the park for the first time in many a year
Tamworth tried to balance this by continuing to develop youth within the squad giving debuts to two more youngsters with Ben Taylor getting the nod for his first start on the wing and Tom Carruthers called onto the bench as front row replacement both of which were excellent.
Tamworth started brightly but fell behind to an early penalty. What was apparent after this though was Tamworth heads didn’t drop as they had been prone to in previous weeks once behind. They were also buoyed by the fact they were on top at scrum time after being destroyed in that department the previous week. The hosts levelled the score on 26 minutes with a Danny Norton penalty.
Paviors kicked two more penalties before the break to lead 9-3 but Tamworth had played the best rugby they had all season and were very firmly still in the hunt at the halfway mark.
They narrowed the gap again shortly after the break with another Norton penalty before conceding what would prove to be the only try of the day when Paviors scored from a driving maul after a five metre lineout. 6-14
Again though Tamworth stuck to the task frustrating the visitors their frustrations leading them to get on the wrong side of the referee who sent three of them to the sin bin at various times throughout the half.
Their penalty count was also on the up especially in the red zone a testament to the pressure Tamworth were putting them under. Tamworth resisted kicking for the corner with these penalties opting sensibly to take the points Norton’s trusty boot doing the business from the tee a tactic that saw them eventually take the lead for the first time in the game all be it the narrowest of leads 15-14.
It would prove to be enough though as they held on for a much needed win that lifted them off the bottom and probably more importantly a massive confidence boost after a torrid start to the season hopefully this could be the catalyst for them to push on in their hunt for survival this season and push on into the future.
Final Score
Tamworth 15
Paviors 14