Report submitted by Reddtich RFC

Redditch 5-36 Coventrians 

Redditch struggled to make any headway in this league encounter with a Coventrians side who made the better use of their equal share of possession.

Redditch had a few opportunities early on, Josh Kearney ran out of legs after picking up loose ball with the line at his mercy, but having starting the run 60m from the try line he was hauled down short of glory,

Covtarians counter attacked, picking up three points from a penalty kick and shortly after increased their lead with a try from their outside centre following an attack from a scrum, the defensive tackles were not strong enough.

Injuries to both sides made for a stuttering match with neither side able to get into any settled pattern of play.

Jack Duffy was next to make ground stealing a line out ball but Redditch were unable to capitalise on the territory gained or the possession so once more the advantage swung back to the visitors who, with the aid of some lucky bounces and elaborate juggling, extended their lead.

It was the sort of try which can knock the wind out of the side conceding it and raised the spirits of the scorers who went into the break 0-15 to the good.

The second half followed much the same pattern, the home pack was gaining dominance in the loose and especially in the tight scrum where on another day they may have had a stream of penalties in their favour, but not today.

The visitors' attacking flair had more penetration than the hosts and gained them territory and a scrum 10m out from which they easily scored their third try.

Virtually straight from the kick off they ran the ball hard a fast back at Redditch and scored another try to tie up the result and bonus point.

Though heads were down by now Redditch did not give up, if anything they redoubled their efforts.

Richard Beddard and Matt Allen had their moments driving forward and tackled valiantly, Sam Gladwin had a couple of opportunities to claw back points from penalties but fell agonisingly short.

Eventually the pack were rewarded for their efforts when a dominant driving maul allowed skipper James Mills to score in the corner but it was too little too late.

Coventrians however had the final word with a well taken try on the final whistle.

Next week sees Redditch's first XV travelling to Coventry Welsh whilst the seconds host Old Yardleians and the Exiles have a fixture at Kidderminster.

Redditch second XV 38 - 34 Droitwich third XV

On a hot sunny afternoon Redditch Rangers ran down the hill in the first half.

For quite some time there was no score as Droitwich nullified every effort that Redditch made.

Eventually old stager Wayne Sharpe sweated on a pass and took the intercept to show a clean pair of heels to everyone and score under the posts, Kit Hemming added the extras and the Rangers could breathe easily.

Almost immediately the Droitwich outside centre fed an overlap on the left to score and bring the scores to level.

There was an immediate response by Redditch, but Aaron Hibbert was denied as he dived for the loose ball over the line. Moments later Hibbert was not to be denied and drove for the line for Hemming to convert.

Redditch were on fire but firstly Mike Allen and then Aaron were denied by the referee.

However, the ref missed a possible knock on by Redditch and Hemming took full advantage to score but he was unable to convert.

Just as Redditch were settling into a comfortable lead, the visitors drove up the right hand touch line and isolating the home full-back effected the turnover to scramble over for the try to close to 19-12 at half time.

As the second half began the big second row from Droitwich did a simple show and run to stroll under the posts with the conversion squaring up the game at 19 all.

After some scrappy play a kick ahead was recovered for a try and Droitwich had hit the lead.

Moments later with a four on two overlap Droitwich chose to kick ahead but were fortunate to win the chase to post another try and take a 10 point lead.

Redditch were not finished and after working their way up to the 22 they were awarded a scrum.

With the giant Mike Adams taking over from veteran Garry Mills at half back the scrum ball saw Adama break from the base of the scrum to scorch over. The conversion brought the difference to three points.

AS Droitwich attacked from the kick off a loose kick bounced favourably for Sharp who needed no invitation to fly 60 metres and place the ball adjacent to the posts.

This was followed up by some soccer skills by Stu George who picked up and dived over to take the score to 38-29 in favour of Redditch.

As the play drew towards the close Redditch attacked to the right and made the Droitwich 22 before being isolated, turned over, and having to watch as Droitwich produced the move of the match to sweep to the far corner of the pitch for the try.

For the fourth time in the match Droitwich were unable to add the extras and this, in the end, was the difference between the two teams as Redditch ran out the winners by 38 to 34.