Newport Saracens had pledged to give everything in their Division Four Cup final clash for colleague Dale Tucker, who died earlier this season, and skipper John Lavender admitted Tonna took his side to the limit before they came through in a see-saw battle 24-23.
It was a game that had almost everything – great tries, five changes of lead and even a late penalty that hit the post that would have changed the result.
In the end it was the ability of the Saracens to dig deep for their former team mate that determined the result. They refused to leave Principality Stadium without the silverware they wanted to dedicate to Tucker.
“I didn’t ever think we had it won. I even looked at the scoreboard and thought we were one point down when we were actually leading,” said Sarries skipper Lavender.
“Fair play to Tonna, I think that’s the darkest place we’ve ever gone. We’ve had a tough year with the loss we had, but I definitely feel that we had an extra person with us today.
“Dale was one of our brothers since the age of 15. Some of us played the game with him on the day that he passed away, and this was our tribute to him.
“What a place to come to play rugby. I was lucky enough to come here with Newport in 2018, when we lost to Merthyr, so to come back again and play in front of my family and friends was very special.”
Even though they out-scored Tonna 4-3 in tries, the Gwent side were forced to heave a heavy sigh of relief when Nicky Fisher’s difficult penalty attempt two minutes rebounded off the far upright.
Centre Josh Ebbitt got the opening try for Tonna but Saracens weren’t fazed and put together some dangerous phases before a lovely angle from Liam Foley, who had floated infield from the right-wing, saw him time his run on to a crisp pass from outside-half Sam Bevan to sidestep the last line of defence for a gem of a try.
Bevan converted and they continued to pose a threat with their pace and passing but some handling mistakes proved costly and Tonna regained the lead with a monster 49 metre penalty from Fisher against the run of play.
Saracens centre Adam Davies was proving a handful and twice played a part as he looped around to go over for an unconverted try to put them back in front, 12-8.
Fisher replied with his second successful penalty to narrow the arrears to a point, but Saracens finished an entertaining half by bagging a third try, hard-working flanker Kirk Lewis diving over for a 17-11 lead.
Tonna No 8 Josh Hughes made an angled run to score, Fisher converting for the lead to change hands for a fourth time, 18-17. Fisher and Bevan then each fired penalties wide.
Saracens responded to the Tonna offensive by mounting their own with a sustained attack culminating in left-wing James Raymond forcing his way over for their fourth try.
Foley took over the goal-kicking and smacked the difficult conversion between the uprights to put them ahead, 24-18.
But Tonna piled on the pressure at the other end with Thomas being bundled into touch by a welcoming committee of four as he dived for the corner.
Another counter saw Thomas race through to put fellow wing Gavin Richards over, but Fisher failed with the conversion and the Division Four West Central leaders trailed by a point, with their kicker having the agony of a penalty attempt hitting the upright.
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