Kempston 27 Redditch 32

Redditch put their selection troubles behind them to book their place in the second round of the Powergen Junior Vase.

But they had to withstand a late onslaught from Bedfordshire side Kempston before a late Scott Johnson penalty eased a few of the nerves.

Injuries and unavailablitiy forced Redditch to make a number of changes but they started well and some excellent forward play was rewarded with a pushover try by Bryant following a line-out, Johnson converting.

This acted as a wake-up call to the home side and they responded with two tries and a conversion within the next 15 minutes, making the most of poor tackling and basic errors.

Johnson slotted another penalty to bring the Kingfishers to within two points before the Redditch defence opened up again to allow Kempston another soft try.

Redditch rallied in the last 10 minutes of the half and scored two further tries. The first was another pushover from a line-out, Chris Oldfield emerging with the ball before a superb move was finished off by Ed Gray under the posts.

Johnson's conversion made the half-time score 22-17 to Redditch.

The second half saw Redditch quickly add to their tally when Gray capitalised on a Kempston mistake and raced 50 metres to score under the posts.

Johnson kicked the extra points as the visitors opened up a 12-point lead but the home side again hit back with two unconverted tries to set-up a thrilling final 15 minutes.

The Bedfordshire outfit were given a number of penalties by the referee but Redditch held out and finished the scoring through Johnson's injury time kick.

Among those who impressed for the Kingfishers were skipper Stan Hull, while Johnson did well on his return to the first team. Scrum-half Neil Hodgkins had his usual ''human dynamo'' performance until injury slowed him down, while the front row continue to impress.

But the star of the show was full-back Aaron Atkinson, who had an excellent game after being called into the line-up late on.

Essington 3 Kings Norton 36

Kings Norton cruised into the next round of the Powergen Junior Vase, opening the scoring after just three minutes when fly-half Ken Whitehouse cut through the home defence to score a well-taken try.

A missed penalty looked like proving costly when Essington converted a simple penalty on 10 minutes. They then needed some excellent work from the Norton forwards and tactical kicking by scrum-half Dave Ellis to keep the home side at bay.

Kings then failed with a pushover try attempt after 18 minutes and were disappointed to lose Whitehouse on 23 minutes as he fell awkwardly following his own kick ahead.

Replacement Owen Brian Williams soon replicated Whitehouse with a decisive move, slicing through to score an unconverted try on the half hour.

Although the Ash Lane forwards were controlling things, the backs were strangely ineffective, dropping passes and taking wrong options which left Kings with a slender 10-3 lead at the interval.

At the start of the second half, Norton's long-range kicker Ellis just failed with a massive effort and Essington hit back, pressurising Norton for a period.

But the visitors survived and skipper Matt Eagles finally forced his way over for a typical try under the posts on 55 minutes which Ellis gratefully converted.

Three minutes later, full-back John Hefford led a terrific breakout of his half, supported by centre Nick Thompson, who fed the ball to Matt James to open his account, Ellis adding another conversion.

Lock Graham Garret then added his name to the scoresheet before Kings wrapped up the scoring in injury time when a tap penalty was worked to Mark Wardby, who crossed the line for a converted try.

The 2nds lost 29-0 at Kidderminster 2nds, a team that plays their rugby two leagues higher.

King's Norton open their league campaign on Saturday with a trip to Evesham.