They can be very pleased indeed with their defensive performance, inflicting their visitors’ first league ‘nilling’ since a fruitless trip to Tynedale back in January 2010, but they nonetheless lost ground to Macclesfield who now top the league after a bonus point win over Harrogate.

The Saxons starting lineup contained 4 changes - 3 selection & 1 positional - from the Sheffield Tigers game. A fit-again Tom Jarvis claimed the full back spot, pushing Matt Farrington out to the right wing. Ben Barkely came back in at centre and Sione Tu’ipolotu pushed Pete White from starting scrum half to the replacements bench. The pack was unchanged, though the bench featured the season’s first selection for the considerable presence that is former captain Ben Hughes.

The threatening dark clouds held off in the first half, the Saxons received the kick off defending the Southern end of the ground with a fresh breeze on their backs and occasional bright sun shining into the eyes of their opponents’ back 3. Having secured the ball they drove it hard at their opponents’ fringes and recycled well, advancing to only a few yards short of the Sedgley Park tryline before referee Tom Davis awarded them an eminently kickable penalty for offside. Captain Robbie Hurrell made an early statement of intent by having it kicked to the corner, but the large Sedgley Park pack held out the catch & drive and the move stalled when the ball was lost in contact. Cue the first scrum but a penalty award went against the Saxons and Sedgley Park cleared to their 22.

A fumbled infield kick gave the visitors a scrum on their own 10m line, but down went the scrum again and this time the penalty went the other way. Gary Dipple again drilled it back into the 22 but an overcooked lineout throw turned possession back over. The visitors opted to run the ball out of the 22 then won a kick exchange by finding touch near the Saxons’ 10m line. The hosts’ blotted their copybook with a not-straight lineout throw and compounded the error by conceding another scrum penalty. The visitors kicked for touch in their 22 but a promising centre break was called back for a forward pass though and Sione Tu’ipolotu was able to put in a fine clearance kick.

The visitors’ attempted infield clearance kicks gained them little distance and simply turned the ball over, the Saxons moving it left to Jamie Hearn who got held up in a maul just short of the visitors’ tryline. The visitors’ pack got shoved off their own 5m scrum ball though, standing up under pressure. With Dr Davis indicating a penalty advantage the ball was driven into the fringe defenders then moved right where Ben Barkley attracted 2 midfield tacklers. The alert Nile Dacres spotted a rare gap in the fringe defences, picked up the ball and burst through untouched for a try that Hearn converted. 19min 7-0.

The visitors recovered their restart kick and ran the ball at the Saxons for several phases, the defences weren’t stretched though until a tackle penalty gifted the visitors a relatively easy 3 points. They too spurned the opportunity though and kicked for position. Again they were held out, Barkley looking to have won a good turnover at a tackle but advantage was being played for an offside. This time they kicked at goal but outside half Steve Collins pushed it wide of the uprights.

The visitors ran back a deep dropout but were again met by a solid defensive wall and had to kick for touch. But the ball was turned over again giving the visitors more opportunities to run at them ball in hand, but eventually possession was turned over in the tackle and another excellent Tu’ipolotu clearance kick drove Sedgley Park back into their 22, Tom Jarvis’ chase rewarded when he deflected the return kick.

Another big Saxons scrum shove forced a penalty just inside the visitors’ half, giving Hearn a long range opportunity for 3 points but his kick went to the right. The Saxons scrum then took a strike against the head near midway and it was the hosts’ turn to batter away phase after phase ball in hand at an unyielding defence that eventually forced a penalty for an isolated attacker holding on in the tackle.

The rest of the half was played out in midfield, Tu’ipolotu fielding a Garryowen hoisted by the visitors who resorted to going over a defence they couldn’t work a way through or round, he then drove them back with another fine kick and even chipped in with a deft volley to prevent a clearance going into touch, but with neither side able to create a line break it was pretty much stalemate until the break. Halftime 7-0.

The breeze had picked up considerably towards the back end of the first half, the sky darkened necessitating use of the floodlights and the umbrellas had gone up before the Saxons reappeared for the 2nd half. They regathered their kick off and moved the ball through the hands right then left before it was nudged forward in contact near the visitors’ 22. Dr Davis again took a dislike to something at the scrum and awarded the visitors a penalty that they kicked for touch.

A rare Sedgley Park foray into the Saxons’ 22 looked to have been contained when a pass was ruled forward, a free kick at the subsequent scrum gave them another bite at the cherry though before a turnover in contact resulted in a midfield kick exchange. After forcing a scrum penalty as his opposite number stood up under the pressure, Hill gave way for Adam Sturdy who made another early 2nd half appearance from the bench, showing all his experience to stabilise the hosts’ scrum and direct the referee’s attention elsewhere. Hughes’ simultaneous appearance beefed up the pack as the conditions worsened and the game became forward oriented as opportunities to move the ball wide became rare indeed.

Another scrappy lineout in their 22 was compounded by a free kick award at the following scrum, drawing a lecture for captain Hurrell from referee Davis. From the tap and go Collins looked to have made a line break under the shadow of the posts but Tu’ipolotu was there to make a try-saving tackle that also forced a knock on, a subsequent penalty award enabling the Saxons to clear their lines.

With Jordan Page also now on the pitch the Saxons’ pack were getting the upper hand in the scrums, forcing the visitors onto the back foot in possession with the inevitable handling errors in the wet. A tackle penalty gave the Saxons good attacking position in the visitors 22, but the opportunity was lost to a handling error. A long Sedgley Park kick forced Hearn back into the corner and a penalty was conceded at the tackle, giving the visitors a rare attacking platform, but they too were unable to execute their lineout correctly and knocked on.

Turnovers and handling errors prevented either side from mounting any sustained pressure on their opponents’ line, the final whistle heralding an anticlimatic finish in which two well organised defences, poor conditions and occasional poor execution in attack had snuffed out pretty much all 2nd half scoring opportunities.

Coach Mike Umaga commented : ‘That’s 2 weeks in a row the team has had to step up to contend with the weather conditions. Sedgley Park have a big pack but our boys did all they could have been asked, containing them well with a great defensive effort. It was the sort of game that we might well have lost last season by trying to force it, today we benefitted from having some old heads in key positions, none more than Sione Tu’ipolotu who just pipped Eji Uzoigwe for my man of the match nomination’.