TONBRIDGE JUDDIANS held off a spirited effort from Bury St Edmonds to remain in fifth place in National Two South, opening up a 24-point lead over the side in sixth.
Bury opened the scoring off the first scrum of the match, a straightforward passing move putting full-back Finlay Sharp in for an unconverted try in the corner after three minutes.
For 20 minutes Bury dominated possession and put TJs under great pressure, and a stout defence prevented them from adding to their lead.
Gradually, Bury were pushed backwards and after TJs won the ball in the middle of the field, it was passed out to Murray Galbraith-Lowe on the right wing and he sped round the defender to score an unconverted try in the corner.
The home side then lost centre Connor O’Reilly to a yellow card and TJs took the lead with a Will Robinson penalty.
On 34 minutes wing Hugo Watson and full-back Toby May broke down the left until Watson was pulled up close to the line. But May found a way through to score and Robinson converted.
The visitors suffered a setback before half-time when captain Mike O’Sullivan left the field with a head injury but they went in 15-5 ahead.
A long pass out to Galbraith-Lowe from a penalty took TJs close to the line, and the subsequent maul was driven over the line for lock Matas Jurevicius to score a try which Robinson converted with a fine shot from the touchline.
TJs looked comfortable but then the hosts scored from halfway, Sam Bixby crossing for the try which scrum-half Anton Limlei converted.
Bury applied pressure again but TJs’ defence held firm and when the hosts were awarded a penalty in front of the posts they opted to kick for goal, Limlei taking them to within seven points.
Not choosing to run the penalty allowed TJs to take control from the kick-off and Bury’s fly-half Will Affleck was yellow-carded defending his line.
Towards the end TJs were awarded a penalty 10 metres out. They opted to take the scrum and attacked down the blindside, replacement wing Tom Chapman squeezing in for the bonus-point try which went unconverted.
TJs now travel to south-west London seeking to avenge their earlier defeat at the hands of Barnes on Saturday (February 2, kick-off 2.30pm).
