Pershore 27pts, Earlsdon 5

PERSHORE'S honest endeavours are finally being rewarded. Although they have had an unlucky season, they have stuck to their game plans and were duly rewarded.

The first half last Saturday proved a topsy-turvy affair and, for the first 20 minutes, it appeared that it was going to be a hard-fought contest.

Earlsdon were much bigger and their forwards appeared to be a mismatch physically, but Pershore destroyed their scrummage and, as in every game this season, they also produced some wonderful line-out play.

The hosts soon began to spread the ball wide and this expansive game proved to be their opponents' undoing.

Their big forwards couldn't keep up and their defence became fragmented and, when a sustained passage of handling released evergreen winger Matt Harwood who sped outside his winger.

When tackled by the full back, his pop pass into space was gathered by Ian Hurley who touched down.

Surprisingly, Earlsdon's first venture into Pershore's 22 resulted in a fine try from their centre who ran in from a delightful angle.

Pershore imposed their authority on the game after half-time when the forwards laid a solid platform.

They often strung seven or eight phases of play together and, when the ball was given to the backs, the confident James Martin orchestrated his fellow backs to put together some fine pieces of play.

They scored four unanswered tries - all the result of fine approach play and excellent support, with Ben Pullen, Andy Jenkinson and Harwood all crossing for unconverted scores.

Replacement Wesley Hawkins completed the scoring and Mar-tin's conversion sealed an excellent win.

For leading from the front, great with the ball in his hands and putting in some hard hitting tackles, captain Martin Hope was deservedly named man of the match.

Midlands Three West (South)

P W D L F A Pts

Solihull 17 16 0 1 521 145 32

Silhillians 17 14 0 3 468 214 28

Hereford 17 13 0 4 594 210 26

Stratford 17 12 0 5 403 208 24

Nuneaton OEs 17 10 0 7 395 271 20

Bedworth* 17 11 0 6 320 272 18

Earlsdon* 17 7 0 10 261 358 14

Pershore* 17 7 0 10 342 304 12

Old Covs 17 5 0 12 251 408 10

Old Leams 17 3 0 14 239 549 6

Ledbury* 17 4 0 13 198 627 6

Keresley* 17 0 0 17 125 551 -2

North Midlands (South) One

P W D L F A Pts

Evesham 11 8 1 2 195 111 17

Upton-on-Severn 10 7 0 3 179 95 14

Kings Norton 11 7 0 7 167 102 14

Tenbury 11 7 0 4 183 139 14

Woodrush 11 4 1 6 111 141 9

Bredon Star 12 3 1 8 135 214 7

Redditch* 11 5 0 6 128 115 6

Handsworth 11 1 1 9 75 256 3

*Points deducted.