ALCESTER RFC suffered a heavy 76-12 defeat away at joint league leaders Ledbury to remain winless on the road this season.
A much-changed Alcester side struggled to cope with Ledbury who have taken maximum points from their opening six matches.
Alcester’s Ed Gough scored and converted his own try while lock Louis Smith also touched down for the visitors at Ross Road.
The result means Alcester sit seventh in the Counties 1 Midlands West (South) table.
Colts duo Harry Roderick and Ollie Pittaway made their first XV debuts becoming the third and fourth players to make the step up this season.
And after Ledbury ran in an early try, Alcester responded through Smith although Gough hit the post with the resulting conversion attempt.
Ledbury’s dominant scrum kept them on top for much of the game as the home side quickly established a 24-5 lead before each team had a player sent to the sin bin.
Alcester reduced the deficit when Gough dotted down before converting his own score only for another Ledbury try to take the game out of the away side’s reach before the break.
The visitors began to tire in the second period and struggled to cope with Ledbury’s power as the home side scored 45 unanswered points to seal a comprehensive victory.
Alcester are next in action at home to Luctonians II on Saturday, October 21 with kick-off at 3pm at Kings Coughton.
Elsewhere, the club’s second XV lost 43-12 at home to Harbury 2nds despite Ollie Clark scoring from the first play of the game.
Harbury hit back and led 24-12 at the break after Glyn Smith scored Alcester’s second try with captain Luke Spencer kicking the conversion only for visitors to run in three further tries after the interval.
