NORTH Midlands slipped to a 17-8 defeat in the mud against Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire in their opening match in this season's RFU National Under 20 Championship.

The match was switched from Old Halesonians to the nearby Old Swinford School ground at Wassell Grove in Hagley after heavy overnight rain left the club's pitch waterlogged.

The school pitch was only just playable and both sides struggled to master the atrocious conditions.

North Midlands winger Ben Rowland-Jones (Moseley) pic-ked his way through the mud for an unconverted try after only three minutes, but that was soon cancelled out when the visitors' loosehead prop Mike Miller battered his way through some poor tackling and fly-half John Connelly added the conversion.

Connelly was off-target with two kickable penalties which allowed North Midlands to turn around to play down the slope only a point adrift. That remained the difference until the 66th minute when fly-half Aaron Higgins (Moseley) put over a drop goal to reclaim the lead.

But North Midlands could not hold on. Connelly landed a penalty in the last minute of proper time and NL&D sealed victory with a try from replacement winger Dave West in the fifth minute of stoppage time which Connelly improved.