SAFFRON Walden Rugby Club were left blaming the referee as Sudbury won Saturday s game at Henham. Despite both sides trying to play open rugby, they were continually thwarted by the man with the whistle. Sudbury kicked off and despite not getting the bal

SAFFRON Walden Rugby Club were left blaming the referee as Sudbury won Saturday's game at Henham.

Despite both sides trying to play open rugby, they were continually thwarted by the man with the whistle.

Sudbury kicked off and despite not getting the ball 10 metres and giving away a scrum they were soon on the offensive and managed to force a penalty after three minutes when the Walden players were given offside and they took a 3-0 lead.

Walden then put together a series of attacks and looked the dominant side for the next 30 minutes.

They took the lead with a break on the blindside by fly-half Tom Hughes who chipped ahead and winger Paul Marshall showing he is nearly back to full fitness after a lengthy lay off with a ham string injury outpaced the opposing winger to fly hack the ball from five metres out and to dive on the ball to score wide out.

Walden kept the pressure up and 10 minutes later they found themselves camped inside the Sudbury 22.

The visitors were penalised wide out after they strayed offside following a five metre scrum. Centre Graham Mummery took a tap to catch the defence on the back foot and dived over to score another unconverted try stretching the lead to 10-3.

Sudbury came back at Walden for the last 10 minutes of the half and kicked another penalty when Walden were deemed to be offside 10-6 in the 36th minute.

Then in the last play of the half Sudbury kicked long and after a defensive mix up they nearly scored but last ditch tackling initially thwarted the visitors.

However, Walden were penalised again this time for going off their feet at a ruck and from a quick penalty the Sudbury winger barged over near the posts to take the lead 13-10.

After the break, Walden looked as though it would be only a matter of time before they managed to get the points they needed as, when they were allowed to play, they kept their opponents deep into their half for long periods.

On the 55th minute Walden attacked down the wing and fullback Dave Philips joined the line outside the winger and broke the last tackle a few metres out and scored in the corner or at least that's what everybody thought.

The Sudbury linesman knew he had scored, only to see the referee disallow the try from 15 metres away - claiming the player had stepped off the pitch.

Sudbury, not believing their luck, regrouped and did manage to get the ball back into the Walden half and scored another penalty to stretch the lead to 16-10 on the 65th minute.

Walden in turn tried to get the score they needed to take the match but to no avail and the match petered out with the visitors taking the points.