Alcester 17, Coventry Welsh 17

ALCESTER earned a share of the spoils against their visitors from Coventry in a keenly-contested game at King’s Coughton.

A side already missing some regulars were dealt a double early blow when skipper Jack Green failed a late fitness test and had to pull out of the game in the warm up.

Back rower Meka Pieri turned his ankle only a couple of minutes into the game and had to come off.

Their absences were filled superbly by others stepping up, most notably 2nd XV skipper Rup Daffern, whose side were without a game, replacing Green in the outside centre position and as captain for the game.

The match kicked off half an hour late as the afternoon’s referee originally went to Atherstone instead of Alcester. That, coupled with numerous stoppages in the second period, meant that the final quarter of the game was played in distinctly murky conditions.

With the slope and slight breeze at their back in the first half, Alcester started well and took the lead inside the opening ten minutes, when Jamie Clarke crashed over near the posts and Matt Ashby added the conversion.

Lee Avery-Sherwood then doubled his side’s try tally with a second score.

Coventry Welsh pulled a try back as they took advantage of some disorganised defending by the home side.

Alcester had to withstand a period of pressure, before they were able to clear their lines and take play back into the visitos' territory.

The hosts then took a 17-5 lead when Sam Smith, spotted a gap and dived over, despite some desperate last-ditch defending to try and stop him.

But Coventry Welsh hit back with gusto and scored two second-half tries, one converted to ensure it was honours even.

l The Under-16s lost 14-0 to Droitwich on Sunday.

The forward unit was bolstered by the return of Billy Spires-White.

For the first 30 minutes of the game both teams battled for supremacy and for a large portion the game was played in the Alcester 22.

However, despite repeated waves of strong Droitwich attack, the home team’s defensive line appeared impenetrable, with every player putting their body on the line.

Droitwich were the first to cross the whitewash after a couple of loose tackles and a momentary loss of concentration by the Alcester unit.

The second half was to prove to be an equally close competition.

But as Alcester failed to take advantage of good periods, Droitwich capitalised with a second converted try.

The coaching team took heart from the best defensive performance of the season so far.