Grasshoppers 27, Sheffield Tigers 26 Preston Grasshoppers put two agonising defeats behind them to clinch an even closer clash as stoppage time loomed.

After twice losing by a couple of points, they claimed their first victory of the National Two North campaign in a performance where their resilience won the praise of head coach Dan Orwin.

“When we went six points down, we dug deep,” he said. “We showed a lot of fight and played some unbelievable rugby at times.

“The penalty count against us is still concerning, we’ve got to be a bit smarter, and we have got to cut down on the mistakes.”

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With the line-out particularly in mind – where Hoppers overdid long throws in blustery conditions – Orwin added: “We sometimes seem to go away from doing the simple things.

“But the drive-maul is a good weapon for us and we are not conceding many line breaks. We are getting there.”

In yet another seesaw game, Tigers took the lead in the second minute when they ran back a clearance kick and put winger Louis Redfern-Browne over in the corner.

A powerful break by home winger Owain Williams set up the position from which lock Luke Procter crashed over for an unconverted try.

But, with fly-half Greg Smith sinbinned for a deliberate knock-on, Tigers regained the lead with a penalty from Mark Ireland.

Centre Sammy Russell launched an attack from which Hoppers scrum-half Joe Harrison scrambled over and Russell converted.

But, with offences once again proving expensive for the hosts, Ireland landed two late first-half penalties for a 14-12 Tigers lead at the break.

Restored to the fray, Smith kicked an early penalty, but Ireland immediately responded in kind, before Hoppers hooker Harry Holden scored his sixth try in three games from a line-out drive.

Home centre Isaak Gosling was yellow-carded for a high tackle and, in his absence, Ireland kicked two more penalties, before adding yet another for a six-point lead with 10 minutes left.

Determined Hoppers piled on the pressure as time ticked away and were rewarded with a bonus-point try from an “everybody in” line-out drive – credited to replacement forward Cam Wilkinson.

So everything rested on Smith’s shoulders and he slotted the conversion to enormous relief and jubilation, as Hoppers climbed to seventh in the table.