Shelford 21 Dings Crusaders 17: After trailing 15-3 at half-time, Dings put in a superb second-half performance and were unlucky not to take the spoils.

Shelford looked much the sharper from the start and were assisted early on by some strange refereeing decisions.

He gave four penalties against Dings in the first three minutes, one of which was converted by centre Edward Gough.

Jack Tovey replied for Dings on 10 minutes to level the scores. Shelford's first try came on 12 minutes from a line-out catch and drive 15 metres out. Gough got the touchdown and the conversion for 10-3 to the home side.

With Dings' play littered with unforced errors, they were unable to get in the game, and when hooker Dave Wheeler was sin-binned on 22 minutes, it was inevitable the home side would extend their lead.

After pressurising the Dings line for five minutes, stand-off Thomas Dann crossed in the corner for 15-3 on 28 minutes.

In the dying minutes of the first half there were signs of a Dings comeback when No 8 Gavin Curry broke for a run to within a yard of the try-line, and Wheeler was held up over the line for the final play of the half.

Dings looked a different side in the second half and dominated from the kick-off.

Their first try went to Curry, after a great run from full-back Orlando Stott and some good hands from the pack. Tovey added the conversion to close the gap to 15-10.

Dings continued to dominate and levelled on 68 minutes with a try from flanker Stean Williams, after the pack had recycled the ball half a dozen times deep in the Shelford 22. Tovey converted to make it 17-15.

Dings continued to press but could not find the last pass to score and, after Tovey narrowly missed a penalty attempt, Shelford regained the lead with a Gough penalty from the halfway line.

Gough then added a long-range kick at the death to extend the winning margin.