Tigers take three titles from Seniors and Masters Nationals

Midland Tigers added three more titles to their 2022 trophy cabinet at the Seniors and Masters Nationals.

Having won the Mixed Open crown two weeks before, the Womens 27, Mens 30 and Mens 45 took up the mantle by winning their respective competitions at Nottingham’s Riverside Sports Complex.

The other two titles went to the South East Sharks (Womens 35) and South West Saxons (Mens 40), at the end of a weekend of fiercely competitive action.

Three of the finals were won by one-try margins, the Sharks retaining their W35 crown with a 4-3 victory over the Tigers – the same margin from their pool match earlier in the weekend – while the Tigers’ W27 team earned revenge over the South East with a 5-4 success against the Taipans.

In the Mens tournaments the biggest margin of victory belonged to the Tigers’ Mens 45, who comfortably saw off South East Sharks 14-1, after the teams had dominated their six-team round-robin.

Meanwhile the Mens 30 final scoreline may have been 11-8 in favour of the Tigers over the South West Saxons, but the teams matched each other try-for-try until the Midland outfit pulled away with two scores in the final two minutes.

However the game of the weekend was the Mens 40 final. The Saxons and Taipans had been the standout teams of the category, and they put on a show in the final, too. The Taipans scored first, and kept their noses in front throughout the 40 minutes, leading 5-4 at half-time and then 8-7 with a minute to go.

But Dean Bradley latched onto a Daniel Connolly pass to sprint in from half-way to take the contest into extra time, and when Bradley cut a great line off Martin Wright it not only gave the Saxons the lead for the first time but also a memorable 9-8 win.

The final Nationals of 2022 is next weekend (Sept 17-18), when the Juniors head to the Riverside Sports Complex.