Ledbury 3pts, Pershore 32

SATURDAY provided another emphatic victory for promotion chasing Pershore against a tough home side.

Ledbury have been a tough nut to crack all season, particularly at home, and this clash was played at a frantic pace with no quarter given, especially up front.

Once again Pershore produced a strong scrum that always put Ledbury on the back foot.

From this platform, Bassett, Widmer and Watson dented holes in the home midfield that allowed the backs space and time to use the ball.

The first try came from a catch and drive with Levin Widmer soaring in the line-out. He was quickly surrounded by his forwards and driven back and skipper Andy Watson collected the final smuggle back and touched down.

Answered

Ledbury's only score quickly followed when they kicked a penalty, that was soon answered in kind by Robin Haines to stretch Pershore's half-time lead.

Ledbury responded after the interval and penned the visitors into their own 22 for ten minutes. However, superb defence and resilience thwarted everything that the Herefordshire side could muster and, when Pershore finally broke out, that proved the end of the match as a contest.

The visitors soon extended their lead after superb hands through the backs gave Andy Jenkinson the narrowest of gaps to exploit and he ducked under an attempted tackle and touched down. Again a difficult conversion was missed.

When the game went into the final quarter the difference in the fitness levels of the forwards was obvious. Pershore were there in numbers and attacked in units, while Ledbury's defence became fragmented.

Three marvellous tries completed the scoring. James Martin once again gave a virtuoso performance and scored two fine individual scores.

And, when Pershore ran from their own 22 in a ten-man passing move, Haines, making amends for dropping two try scoring chances earlier, this time made no mistake.

Two conversions from the scorer completed the scoring while Martin and Alex Peel shared the man of the match plaudits.

Midlands Three West (South)

P W D L F A Pts

Barkers Butts 20 16 1 3 606 208 33

Pershore 20 16 0 4 400 257 32

Hereford 20 14 1 5 446 292 29

Old Leams 20 13 0 7 334 305 26

Stratford 20 11 1 8 386 316 23

Earlsdon 20 10 0 10 376 326 20

Old Yardleians 20 9 1 10 396 408 19

Bedworth* 20 10 0 10 360 343 18

Silhillians 20 9 0 11 370 354 18

Shipston 20 4 0 16 193 394 8

Ledbury 20 4 0 16 280 517 8

Droitwich* 20 2 0 18 185 612 2

*Points deducted.