B’HAM CIVIL SERVICE 29, ALCESTER 53

CAPTAIN Joe Sears was the star performer as Alcester kept alive their hopes of avoiding relegation in the Midlands Division Four West (South).

Flanker Sears ran in five tries and claimed the man of the match award as the Kings Coughton side completed their first home and away double of the season over the bottom team.

Alcester remain second from bottom and with two matches of the season left, are five points behind Stoke Old Boys.

They recovered from a slow start after conceding an early try.

However, Sears touched down and Jack Green also went over for an effort Tom Alder converted.

Alder extended the lead with a penalty before Sears scored his second of the day to give his team a 20-14 lead at the break.

Sears who completed his first hat-trick of tries this season when sprinting through the defensive line to score under the posts.

Full back Jamie Clarke then outpaced the Civil Service defence to finish off a fluent attacking move for Alcester’s fifth score.

Despite the visitors’ excellent attacking display, defensively they were not as strong and the home side refused to give up, continually pegging Alcester back.

But as the second half wore on Civil Service began to tire and it was Sears who made the most of the space running in two more tries, with Meka Pieri crashing over for another.

Fly half Alder collected 13 points with five conversions and a penalty.

Next week, Alcester are away at Stoke and a victory in Coventry will keep alive their faint hopes of pulling clear of the relegation zone.

The under-16s/17s saw off Shipston 46-17, with tries for Lewis Walker, Alex Chiles (2), Josh Godson (2) and Dom Evans (2).

Meanwhile, the under-10s saw off Old Leamingtonians 22-3.

Charlie Watson raced through to open the scoring with the first of his two tries for the home side.

This was then followed by further touch downs for Harvey Sharpe (5), Felix Slaughter (4), Ryan Streete (3), Jack Morrison (3), as well as a tries each for Josh Owen, Will Harris, Dylan Lippett, Joe Ward and Rhys Williams to stun the visitors, who responded with three of their own.

Great tackling and great individual running proved too much for Old Leams and Josh Owen was named man of the match for his outstanding display.