UPTON continued their good form in North Midlands Division One South with a convincing victory against visiting Birmingham Civil Service.

UPTON RFC 1ST XV 31pts, BIRMINGHAM CIVIL SERVICE 3pts

On a fine day, the result was never in doubt after the first minute. Upton received the kick-off and fly half Mark Tether saw an opportunity out wide. Inside centre Heeley threw a big miss pass to full back Alex Pimlow who raced 80 metres up field to open the scoring. Conversion missed.

Despite the obvious advantage Upton's backs had over the opposition, the forwards from Birmingham were big and strong and Upton soon conceded a penalty that full back Long converted for 5-3.

It took a while for Upton to get a full grip of this game but eventually, through the pack, they gained control and from a rolling maul prop Melvin Hill emerged from the bottom of the pile with the ball. Heeley converted to make it 12-3.

From this point it was all one side. After more pressure Civil Service hit a long clearance only for Upton winger Chris O'Neil to run the ball back 30 metres. He was eventually tackled but managed to pop to outside centre Brad Raymond who burst through two tackles before out pacing the full back to score. Heeley converted to make the half- time score 19-3.

Coach Ron Hobbs' message at half-time was 20 more points and with this in mind the home side threw the ball around at will. However, despite many opportunities they only managed two scores. Firstly from another driving maul, scrum half Ian Slocombe directed proceedings and eventually went over for a score. Heeley converted for 26-3.

Upton fly-half Tether was always looking for opportunities in the back-line and winger Caldwell, full-back Pimlow and replacement Staite all should have scored but it was left for Tether to almost do it on his own. He chipped through on half-way, re-gathered the ball and raced 30 metres. As the cover came across he had support all around him but chose Raymond, who jogged in from 10 metres for the clincher. Final score 31-3.

This keeps Upton in touch with the leaders and puts them in third-place with half the season completed. The next home league match is against Handsworth on January 22.