A depleted Alcester side suffered a heavy 54-12 defeat to Ledbury this past weekend with their squad plagued by illness and unavailability.
Ledbury ran in eight tries in total with James Hibbard and Alex Chiles dotting down for Alcester who finished the game with 14-men after Lewis Walker and Dave Allred both dislocated their shoulders.
The result leaves Alcester in sixth place in the Midlands 3 West (South) table having taken 13 points from their five matches so far this season.
Alcester were missing several players through illness and unavailability which meant they were only able to name one substitute for Saturday’s clash in Herefordshire.
Ledbury made a quick start – running in three unanswered tries in the opening half an hour as they cut through the middle of the Alcester defence to score underneath the posts on each ocassion.
Alcester finally managed some sustained pressure close to the Ledbury line just before half-time before Hibbard touched down underneath a pile of bodies to put the visitors on the scoreboard.
And after Ledbury went into the break with a 21-5 lead – the hosts scored two more easy tries at the beginning of the second period to take the game out of Alcester’s reach.
The away side’s day went from bad to worse when Walker and Allred both dislocated their shoulders in the space of five minutes which forced Alcester to finish the game with 14 players due to only having one substitute.
However, after Ledbury had scored their sixth try against the run of play, Alcester’s Chiles picked up a loose ball and raced away to score a consolation try which was successfully converted.
The home side added two more tries before the final whistle to condemn Alcester to a 54-12 defeat.
Alcester are next in action on Saturday, November 6 when they host Manor Park at Kings Coughton.
Elsewhere, Alcester’s second side also suffered defeat after losing 26-17 to Camp Hill thirds.
Alcester’s tries came through Chris Howell, James Roberts and Kyle Derry the first of which saw Howell chip the ball over the Camp Hill defence before then producing a grubber kick and diving over the line.
Howell’s try was converted by Seb Cortes before he became the third Alcester player that afternoon to suffer a dislocated shoulder.
Alcester’s second side travel to Barkers Butts thirds next weekend.
