Kings Norton 18

Woodrush 19

THE derby battle at Ash Lane saw a resurgent Woodrush crush Kings Norton's unbeaten home record while notching up their second win on the trot after a single point victory.

The Kings men - still missing three first team regulars started like a train and raced into a 15-3 lead five minutes before the break after two well taken tries.

Matt James collected a perfect pass from prop forward Richard Revell to crash under the posts with Whitehouse easily converting.

Norton kept up the pressure from the restart and Mark Waudby broke from the base of a scrum five minutes later to powerfully run in unopposed but Whitehouse narrowly missed the conversion.

It could have been more when Waudby went over earlier on in the half but he was adjudged to have fumbled his touch down.

And just as the game looked dead and buried for Woodrush and the clock ticking towards half time they were handed a lifeline.

Kings Norton were again on the offensive but lost their way and the ball, which was gratefully accepted by the visitors' John Board who stormed past the defence and under the posts to finish the half just four points off the pace.

Woodrush's self-belief was on the up and he closed the gap to just one point with a penalty straight after the restart.

Seven minutes later and the visitors took the lead as Toby Smith disintegrated the Norton back row to crash under for an unconverted break away try.

Norton's defense held firm against the constant onslaught from Woodrush and from one counter attack, kicker Ken Whitehouse converted his second penalty to reduce Woodrush's lead to one point.

In a nail-biting final five minutes Woodrush missed a penalty and were pinned back in their own half as Kings pressed hard for the winning score.

But with time slipping away the Kings' final move of the game was ended by the referee.

Kings Norton will be looking to recover some pride as they take a week off from the league on Saturday before travelling to lowly Birmingham Exiles on November 13.

Woodrush take on Five Ways in a friendly encounter on Saturday.