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Two milestones were toasted with an impressive victory as Tonbridge Judddians defeated Sale 30-21 in National League 1.
Juddians began the day celebrating Tom Nicol's 100th cap and Hugo Watson's 150th, and they ended it with their first win of the league campaign.
TJs started the match the stronger, with a period of possession in the Sale half. Nicol made a searing break early on, but was dragged down just short.
However the pressure told and Watson opened his account with a lovely snipe off his wing, sliding through the defence to score under the posts.
The rest of the half was an evenly-matched affair, but on the stroke of half-time some brilliance from Fergus Mulchrone saw him offload to Tom Walsh, who streaked clear before timing the pass to Mark Dixon who finished well.
Sale began the second half quicker, putting a lot of pressure on the home side, however TJs came through with only a penalty conceded.
A cynical infringement from Sale saw them lose a player to the sin-bin and Tom White opted to kick at goal, bringing the score to within one. TJs then made their man-advantage count.
White found space down the left-hand side and offloaded to Bryan Hotston. He sprinted clear to find the onrushing Watson who went over to give his side the lead.
Juddians found success at the lineout, winning back-to back penalties, before kicking to the corner. The forwards opted for the drive, making good ground up the touchline and this sucked in the Sale forwards allowing Walsh to break down the short side and put Watson in for his hat-trick.
The day got better when a strong break up the middle from Duncan Tout got TJs into the Sale 22 again. The home side plugged away for many phases before the Sale defence was unlocked by a brilliant wide pass from White to put Watson in for his fourth try. Sale picked up a try on the final whistle, however it would prove to only be a consolation as TJs recorded a bonus-point victory.
Juddians are without a league game this weekend.
