By Adam Hookway

Tonbridge Juddians started as they mean to go in National League 2 East with a 26-20 victory over Kent rivals Westcombe Park.

TJs were boasting several fresh faces in the line-up for the opening game of the season, with a new half-back pairing of Petrozzi and Sam Evans looking to get the team moving forward and at pace. However, an error-strewn start led to Combe taking a sixth-minute lead with a penalty.

Judds hit back when their lineout secured good ball and drove over with debutant hooker Will Holling touching down. Evans added the extras for a 7-3 advantage.

Player-of-the-match Tom Kendrick got the next try, the ball thrown wide right and left before crashing over in the corner, and Evans added the conversion from the touchline. Two tries soon became three, a confident backline creating space for Tom White to cross the whitewash.

The one-way play continued at the start of the second half, the hosts finding room and hands down the right with Evans finishing the move under the posts to extend the lead to 26-3 with the bonus-point score.

That, though, was to be their last points of the day as Westcombe exerted some of their own pressure at the scrum and in the tight exchanges. Inaccurate passing didn’t help the home side and two converted Park tries in a matter of minutes gave the visitors hope.

With eight minutes left Combe added a penalty to move within a converted try of the lead. An anxious finale followed, and there was still time for one more Combe scrum, but TJs had already done enough for a winning start ahead of Saturday’s visit to Canterbury (3pm).