Berkswell & Balsall 21 - Droitwich 18

Sunday 13th November 2005

Droitwich travelled to Berkswell and were out muscled up front to come away with a 21 points to 18 defeat.

Playing up the hill in the first half, Droitwich, without first choice props Matt Jupp and Greg Garfield, failed to come to terms with the strong home pack. As a consequence Droitwich never really secured any quality possession.

The two sides traded penalty kicks to make the score 6--6 after fifteen minutes. Droitwich then managed to get some clean possession and centre Ben Cottrell was released to sprint over the tryline from ten metres out. The home side then hit back with a try from a lineout catch and drive. This was repeated in almost identical fashion on the stroke of half time to give the home side an 18-- 11 advantage at the break.

Droitwich, with the slope in the second period, were now playing catch up, but could not get the better of the Berkswell pack. In a repeat of the first half, Droitwich were never able to secure enough possession to pose a consistent threat. The home side extended their lead with a penalty, before, with ten minutes to go, cottrell made a fine break from half way to score his second. The visitors then tried everything to snatch a win, but in the end just failed.

James Davies had a good game in the back row, pulling off some excellent tackles, as did skipper Nick Godfrey who had to play in the unfamiliar role of hooker due to Droitwich’s front row injury problems.

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