Stratford 2nds 10 Alcester 42
THIS was Alcester’s best performance of the season so far as they ran in six second half tries to emerge convincing winners against Stratford’s second string on Saturday.
Back into the team came hooker Tom Harris, number 8 Phil Birks and flanker Ben Hope and they all made a difference in an Alcester pack that dominated throughout.
The first half was closely contested as Alcester pressed, only to be pegged back time after time by the Stratford boot.
Against the wind, Alcester failed to finish off a number of fine breaks as centre Jamie Harland made good ground every time he touched the ball.
It was Stratford who took the lead when they finished off a fine backs move out wide before a comedy of errors gifted the home side another score to extend their lead to 10-0 at the interval.
However, that was as good as it got for Stratford as Alcester picked themselves up and took the game to their hosts right from the restart.
In a blitz of early scores, skipper Jack Green ran in two tries, both converted by Hope, to give his team the lead.
From this point there was only one team in it and the visitors took control. Tries came at regular intervals, two from Lewis Walker and one each from fly half Josh O’Connor and winger Ollie Morrison.
Every try was successfully converted, four of them by Hope and the last two by skipper Green.
Such was the quality of the team performance at times, Alcester named two men of the match. They were teenager Harland who was outstanding in the centre and flanker Jamie Clarke who smashed and crashed his way through a fragile Stratford defence throughout.
Alcester return to Midlands Four West (South) action on Saturday when they host neighbours Claverdon for the second time this season.
They will be hoping for a different outcome this time around, having been edged out in the Warwickshire Shield fixture between the sides in September. Kick-off at Kings Coughton is 2pm.
Alcester 2nds 24 Pershore XV 84
AN ALCESTER 2nds side took to the field short of numbers for the third weekend running, but this time was bolstered by some guest players from neighbours Claverdon 2nds who were without a game.
They faced a strong Pershore side whose 1st XV were without a game and who were able to call on a cohesive back line unit of the quality rarely seen at this level and ultimately were the difference between the two sides.
However, the final scoreline was extremely harsh on the home side who, whilst well beaten, were unfortunate to lose by 60 points.
After the scheduled match referee’s car broke down en route, Alcester’s Scott Carmichael – hoping for a first playing run-out of the season – ended up taking the whistle and did a fine job throughout the game.
Playing up the slope in the first half, the combined Alcester/Claverdon side scored first through a Claverdon debutant.
The visitors then ran in several scores before another Claverdon player, Dave Shadlock, crossed for Alcester’s second try.
In the second half the game continued in a similar fashion as the visitors sought to get the ball wide as quickly as possible and specifically to their right winger who used his lightning pace to score four tries and set up others.
Alastair Hooper put Alcester back on the scoreboard and his try was brilliantly converted from out wide by Jimmy Watson.
The visitors than ran in other scores before, in the final play of the game, a good break by Alcester second row Jamie Miller was halted just short of the line, but he offloaded to veteran Paul Taylor who showed great strength to force his way over despite the attentions of two defenders.
