Chocs away as Bournville are allowed a flying start

MINDFUL of the last meeting between these two teams which resulted in a slender two point victory for Evesham the pre-match brief was to be aggressive and committed from the off.

With those words still ringing in their ears, the home side made an inexplicably lacklustre start and were soon punished by a well-worked try which was converted to give an early 7-0 lead.

Two evenly matched packs tussled for an advantage and on 10 minutes Matt Phillips shimmied through a half-gap to run in a fine solo effort.

The home side began to exert further pressure and a clever quick tap penalty by Michael Ibbotson just outside the visitors' 22 saw him bulldoze his way towards the line and he was driven over by the posts to give Ryan Clarke an easy conversion.

More good mauling resulted in a score for Matt Power, his first try for the team, on the stroke of half-time to give Evesham a 17-7 advantage.

The hosts were soon into their stride with scrum half Henry Appleby and James Davis at fly half setting up a score for Matt Phillips inside a minute, which he converted himself.

But Evesham were rocked again by a breakaway try, and with the gap down to 10 points the Avonsiders needed a fine hat-trick try from Matt Phillips to calm the nerves.

Phillips had the final word as he rounded off another fine move to score under the posts to give Davis an easy conversion.

Evesham U-12 38pts, Bournville 7

EVESHAM made their intentions clear from the start on Sunday with Tristan Walsh breaking through the Bournville pack on halfway to score, which was then quickly followed up by a similar try scored by Scott Coulson both of which were converted by Tim Stoddart.

The Avon Street side continued to grow in confidence with centre Edward Worthington sidestepping his opposite number just inside the Bournville half creating enough space for him to break through and score just before half-time.

The second half saw replacement scrum half Scott Grainger causing his opposite number a few problems with several breaks from set pieces which were then followed up by good support from the forwards, which allowed a further three tries to be scored by Zak Bailey, Kain Edwards-Adams and Tristan Walsh two of which were converted by Thomas Mansfield.

Bournville scored a late converted try in the corner despite the best efforts of Luke Head to push his opposite number into touch.

Evesham Combined U-9 and 10s 4, Bournville 3

EVESHAM'S run of wins continued on Sunday when the combined teams of the under-nine and 10s proved too strong for combination visitors Bournville.

Both teams started well and the first break came with Jack Witts releasing Josh Perry, the resulting pass saw Thomas Heneghan make a solo break with devastating speed to finish in the corner.

Jack Witts continued his try-scoring form with a classic collect and drive over the line to make it 2-0 at half-time.

Bournville stormed back in the second half and two determined drives levelled the score within minutes of the restart. Evesham's substitutions paid dividends and Joe Beirns made a sweeping run across field to finish in the corner. The pendulum then swung back to Bournville with a fine solo run but a quick tap penalty by Michael Harris caught the visitors by surprise and secured a well deserved home win.