BROMSGROVE RFC First XV went joint top of Midlands Two (West) last Saturday with victory at Stoke.

Dean Ball's side, who bring to an end Stoke's unbeaten home run, is now level on points with Derby after the fellow leaders opted to postpone their fixture to watch England win the rugby World Cup.

With slope advantage and dry conditions, Bromsgrove could have used their first half superiority more effectively but some scoring chances went begging to handling errors or wrong tactics.

Kiwi fly half Matt Wiig missed a penalty goal just before a smooth handling move gave Town right winger Richard Trigg an under posts try and full back James Lloyd-Jones converted.

During one of many charges for the try line, Ball, playing as hooker, stretched his achilles tendon too far and was carried off. Stoke also had their full back replaced in a separate incident but both needed hospital treatment. That forced flanker Richard Arnold to move to hooker with Craig Jesson going to the flank.

Then, with Ball still sitting on a stretcher on the sidelines, prop Steve Phillips crashed through a light defence for an unconverted try. Home flanker Trevor Clayton seized a loose ball to score a converted try just before the interval.

A good handling move on the left gave Phillips space for his second unconverted try soon after the re-start.

The visiting pack had a definite edge in scrums and line outs were generally secure with Tom Churchill and Ian Young.

Wiig kicked a 25-metre penalty before centre Dave Wilkinson scored a converted try to open up a 14-point lead.

Stoke raised their game in the last quarter Stoke raised their game with one goal kick success for Wiig. The best home handling move of the game gave Fijian right winger Ben Seruvaiu an unconverted try in the corner.