STOURBRIDGE produced a Christmas cracker of a performance to rescue their match against Sheffield Tigers at Stourton Park.

The hosts looked to be heading for a fourth straight defeat when they found themselves trailing 31-7 after 20 minutes following tries from Lewis Bloor, Thomas Hart, James Bradley and Kain Rix plus conversions from Mark Ireland.

Stour struggled to make tackles in vital areas and had no answer to some slick Tigers passing.

Only a Reece Beddows try and Chris Scott conversion made any impact on the score for the midlanders.

On 25 minutes Beddows took advantage of a break on the right and touched down in the corner, Scott struck sweetly from wide to add the extras.

The score seemed to fire the hosts into life, a period of sustained pressure led first to a yellow card for the Tigers and Nick Murphy made them pay with a try which Scott again converted to make the half time score 21-31.

Stour played some of their best rugby of the season to dominate the second half.

A Scott penalty prompted a fightback by the Tigers but Stour showed the fight which had been lacking in recent performances.

Big tackles kept Tigers at bay and a kick forward by Sam Montieri led to a lineout in the corner and Jack Lea crashed over from the catch and drive.

The conversion by Scott drew the scores level and his successful penalty on 62 minutes gave Stour a deserved lead.

Just a minute later Joe Heatley was unstoppable as he charged from his own half to score in the corner.

Three minutes later Nigel Mukarati benefitted from another catch and drive with a try to extend the lead.

Tigers looked beaten but mustered a penalty from Ireland before Dan Rundle made a superb 60 metre run to score a converted try under the posts and make the game safe with five minutes to go.

A quick break late-on gave Henri Packard a consolation try for Tigers to make the final score 51-39 to Stourbridge.