Evesham 17pts, Old Richians 12

EVESHAM recorded an excellent win against last Saturday's higher graded opponents from Gloucester on a cold and foggy afternoon.

It was clear from the kick-off that the visitors' intentions were to keep the ball alive and run everything. This put Evesham under great pressure in the opening 15 minutes, but, as the last few weeks have shown, the hosts are playing with much more resolve these days and were able to repel everything that was thrown at them.

Working their way up the pitch, the hosts were rewarded with a scrum close to the line.

Winning good quick ball, the backs opened the defence with a great miss move in the centre that put full back Matt Grove through the hole where he drew the last defender and slipped the ball for Matt Jacques to stroll over.

Richians stormed back and soon found themselves in a similar position. This time they used brute force as their massive Samoan No 8 picked up and drove over for a converted try, leaving the visitors with a slender 7-5 half-time advantage.

The second half performance was probably the best that Evesham have produced all season. The forwards surged tow-ards the try line and good tactical kicking and great support play kept Richians under the cosh.

Another terrier-like performance from Gary Diston resulted in a try for the scrum-half but again Grove's conversion attempt fell short.

The Avon Street men continued to push the visitors back through the dominance of their forwards and they managed to string many phases of play together.

From a scrum five metres from the Richians line, the options were ample, but, as the previous week showed, route one is often the best and No 8 Will Bailey powered over and Grove added the extras.

Richians' only option was to start to throw the ball about in an attempt to salvage the game and they managed to break out to pull a try back late in the game.

It all proved too little too late for the Gloucester side as Eve-sham completed a satisfying victory.

Upton are the visitors to the sports club on Saturday in the first game of two against the Severnsiders. It's cup action this weekend for a tie that starts at 2.15pm.

North Midlands South One

P W D L F A Pts

Upton-on-Sev 5 4 0 1 116 52 8

Evesham 6 4 0 2 115 58 8

Kings Norton 5 3 0 2 76 42 6

Tenbury 5 3 0 2 114 91 6

Bredon Star 7 3 0 4 93 125 6

Woodrush 6 3 0 3 56 94 6

Redditch* 5 2 0 3 57 65 0

Handsworth 5 0 0 5 24 124 0

Midlands Three West South

P W D L F A Pts

Silhillians 9 9 0 0 303 104 18

Solihull 9 8 0 1 231 95 16

Stratford 8 7 0 1 221 114 14

Hereford 9 6 0 3 251 129 12

Pershore 8 4 0 4 210 121 8

Bedworth* 9 6 0 3 185 117 8

Nuneaton OEs 9 4 0 5 203 159 8

Earlsdon 8 4 0 4 143 136 8

Old Covs 9 3 0 6 128 202 6

Old Leams 7 0 0 7 73 261 0

Keresley 9 0 0 9 56 262 0

Ledbury 8 0 0 8 49 353 0

*Points deducted.