BIRTHDAY boy Josh O'Connor captained an Alcester A side in a friendly which they narrowly lost to Berkswell and Balsall 22-19.

The B's play two divisions higher than Alcester and were able to include some first team players to bolster their ranks having lost to Alcester earlier in the season.

Although the B's took an early lead with a well worked try, Alcester soon fought back and started to take charge as they built a 19-5 advantage.

Winger Ollie Morrison and second row forward Louis Smith crossed for tries with captain O'Connor adding a conversion to go 12-5 in front by half time.

Centre Jamie Harland supplied a third Alcester try which substitute Tom Burgess, who was playing his first game for a number of years, converted.

Unlike their previous meeting, the B's then began to exert real pressure through their pack.

They forced a series of scrums and closed the gap with a try as Alcester struggled to respond.

Two more tries followed from set-piece play as Alcester proved unable to stem the tide.

Alcester return to league action this Saturday when they host top of the table Coventry Welsh at Kings Coughton (3pm kick off) The match coincides with President Andy Miller's annual lunch and Alcester will be attempting to crown the occasion with a third straight league win.

ALCESTER Colts shook off their dismay of last week's local derby defeat to Bromsgrove by bouncing back to beat Bredon Star 24-10.

The scores were level at half time with leading scorer Cian Allen cancelling out Bredon Star's opening try.

Steve Lowe then put Alcester ahead when showing great strength to power his way over the line for Harry Adams to convert from a difficult position.

Will Kershaw supplied a third try following a driving maul before Oscar Holland scored a fourth thanks to a solo effort which Adams again converted.

Bredon Star managed to bag a second try but Alcester held out for victory.

Alcester's Under-13's beat Camp Hill 15-5 thanks to tries from Olly Hopkins, Will Harris and Toby Wilson.

Cameron Temple caught the eye with two important tackles that proved pivotal to Alcester's success.