ALCESTER RFC started the season with a bonus point win on their travels with a 36-19 success at Tenbury.
Despite missing key players and only travelling with one replacement, Alcester made a winning start to the campaign as Jack Green, Matt Johnson, Max Biltcliffe, Harry Wylie, Jamie Harland and Ed Gough all crossed for tries.
The result means Alcester sit second in the Counties 2 Midlands West (South) table after one match.
However, Alcester went behind on the quarter hour mark after several pick and drives saw Tenbury crash over for the game’s first try.
The visitors hit back soon after when Gough and Green exchanged passes which ended with the later bulldozing his way through the Tenbury defence to draw Alcester level.
And Alcester soon had the lead when the impressive Johnson stole the ball at the lineout before setting up a driving maul that drove over the line with Gough adding the extras.
Tenbury drew level with their second try shortly after, having exploited the blindside to score in the corner, before Gough missed with a penalty attempt to send the teams in at 12-apiece at the break.
Alcester started the second period with greater intensity and were rewarded when Biltcliffe dropped over the line following another rolling maul with the referee eventually awarding the try after much deliberation as Gough added the extras.
And the visitors scored their bonus point try through debutant Wylie after he collected Dwayne Cruickshank’s offload before racing away to dot down with Harland adding another try moments after the restart.
Tenbury were temporarily reduced to 14 players after one of their players was sin binned for lashing out but were still able break the line and score their third try despite their numerical disadvantage.
However, Alcester were back at the other end of the pitch just five minutes later and patiently shifted the ball on the Tenbury line before Gough burst through a gap to score and converted his own try.
The home side should have scored a bonus point try only to spill the ball over the line with Harland on hand to scoop the ball up and race down the wing to clear it to safety.
Alcester are next in action at home to Kenilworth 2nds on Saturday, September 10 with kick-off at 3pm at Kings Coughton.
