Pump Technology sponsored Tadley welcomed old rivals Frome to Red Lane for a crunch match in Southern Counties South. Frome arrived in a rich vain of form after comprehensively beating early league leaders Oakmedians the previous week.

Tadley welcomed back Wood, Williams and Dampies to the starting line up and started as underdogs after a poor performance the previous week in the cup at Windsor.

From the whistle Tadley piled on the pressure especially through the scrummage with Grierson, Wood and Lowe in the front row. This was a theme that was to continue throughout the match with a number of scrums being won against the head.

Tadley’s opening try came when centre Andy Williams stepped inside his man and made a clean break. The ball was kept alive and supporting flanker Mike Keeley barged over in the corner. Tadley continued to dominate possession and a second try followed quickly when Andy White managed to touch down following a driven line out.

Before half time Tadley’s discipline began to slip and the penalty count started to creep up. All too frequently Tadley’s attacks were stopped by an infringement at the breakdown. This indiscipline gave Frome the chance to get back into the game. They opened their account with a penalty and in virtually the last play of the half managed a try in the corner to leave the game very much in the balance at half time with the scoreboard showing 10 – 8.

The second half continued in the same vain with Tadley showing much more in attack, with Frome living off scraps with their number 8 doing a fantastic job of clearing up ball whilst going backwards in the scrum. With Tadley failing to use the possession that they had constructively, Frome continued to punish Tadley’s indiscretions at the breakdown and scored two penalties to open up a 4 point lead. Tadley keep fighting but failed to turn promising attacks into points. In the later stages Frome managed to score a breakaway try to take the game out of Tadley’s reach.

Tadley can take encouragement from their first half display against one of the strongest side in the league. With some more intelligent play Tadley can build on these foundations and start achieving the results required to get back in the promotion hunt.

Man of the Match – Rob Lowe

Team - Grierson, Wood (Summers 60), Lowe, Harris, White (Livingston 60), Keeley, Staley, Murray, Tom Bailey, Cox, Dampies, Williams, Pike, T Smith, E Smith. Replacements: Cole