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Tigers and Club dish up piping-hot offerings

As if the beef and barley broth was not enough, DeA Tigers and CBRE Club dished out a piping-hot brand of rugby that kept the tundra-like cold at bay at King's Park last night. The end-to-end action more than supplemented the soup served by the caterers on the touchline.

And at the end of the night, it was Club who resembled the poor relations forced to make-believe they were partaking of a banquet standing at the end of a soup line. For with ingredients like Seni Seruvakula, Fred Moe and Logan Kerisome in their mix, DeA Tigers were a mouthful to handle as they stormed to a 25-20 victory in the Zurich Premier League First Division action.

It was a heart-warming victory for the DeA fans who were crying into their cups of soup early in the match when Club blazed to a 17-3 lead with tries by No8 Rob Henley, captain and hooker Tom Cameron and scrumhalf Simon Aird.

DeA Tigers cut the lead to 17-8 just before the break with a try from Alex Zenovic. But the turnaround was only completed in the second half with a magnificent display by the DeA forwards led superbly by captain and No8 Seruvakula who had an inspirational game.

Kerisome scored twice, sandwiching a try by Seruvakula as DeA Tigers ran out winners. Club and DeA Tigers share second spot in the standings. But the top slot was grabbed by Asahi Valley who defeated Synovate Aberdeen 28-12 to take the outright lead.

Club can only blame themselves for losing their unbeaten record this season. After a stirring start - where flyhalf David Wigley kept bombing the DeA back three with high balls resulting in a couple of the tries - Club lost their way.

'We butchered that. Our guys got complacent and thought they had done enough to win. To take a 17-3 lead and then lose it is unforgivable,'' said disappointed Club coach Rodney McIntosh.

Once DeA Tigers had their lineout in order and the scrums under some sort of control, they started to exert more pressure with the glut of possession being well dished out by gutsy scrumhalf Lee Cheuk-yin.

'We tried to do too much with the ball in the first half but after the break we came back believing in ourselves,'' said DeA player-coach Nigel Clarke.

Club's cause was not helped when midway through the second half they lost replacement prop Nigel Hobler, sin-binned for a professional foul. Down to 14 men, Club were further under the cosh with DeA trailing at that stage by just four points, 17-13, thanks to Kerisome's first try.

A try-saving tackle on impressive Club No8 Henley by Servakula - he drove Henley back as he attempted to pick up from a five-metre scrum and drivee for his second try - gave DeA further heart. And they capitalised on this feel-good factor and the fact that Club were down a man when Seruvakula emulated Henley by picking up from a scrum at the other end of the field and scoring under the posts. Andrew Chambers converted to put DeA in front, 20-17, for the first time.

Club levelled with a penalty by Wigley but Kerisome was not to be denied as he collected his second try with a scything run that took out nearly half the defence to give DeA a deserved victory.

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