Droitwich II 10, Evesham II 27pts

SATURDAY'S winners are sitting proudly at the top of the Worcestershire and Herefordshire Merit Table halfway through the league programme.

The Avonsiders, current holders of the Merit Cup, have won all eight games so far and they showed their strength in depth last weekend when again they were forced to reshuffle their starting side.

Evesham showed their intent from the first whistle, applying pressure from the forwards to release the backs into space. This eventually resulted in a try out wide for Phil Hammond.

A large Droitwich pack began the assert themselves on the game and that made for an even contest with possession and territory changing hands regularly but the score stayed unchanged.

Playing with the wind at their backs, Evesham made sure that all the rugby was played in the home side's half.

Continued pressure on the Droitwich line saw an overlap appear for flying winger Chris Wolvard to cash in for a 17th score of the season. Droitwich replied with a penalty to reduce the deficit, only for Tim Carsberg to slot a penalty at the other end.

Evesham's third try was scored by scrum-half Adrian Swarts, only to see the credit taken away from him when the referee upgraded it to penalty try under the posts after dissent from the home side. Carsberg added the extras.

Wolvard crossed again after a clever kick from Phil Parsons that bobbled just inside the touchline before being kicked on and then picked up at pace by the winger, who sprinted under the posts to make Carsberg's job easier.

Droitwich continued to probe the Evesham line and were rewarded with a converted try from the last play of the game.

Evesham continue on their travels with Southam the next stop on Saturday.