Shipston on Stour 0 - Droitwich 37

Saturday 17th November 2007

Droitwich eased though to the 4th round of the EDF Senior Vase on Saturday with a comfortable 37 points to nil victory at Shipston on Stour.

The visitors never really hit top form but tries by Duncan Hughes, Phil Horton, Ross Coombes and Andy Manns were good enough to claim the victory.

The Spa side started brightly with good work at the line-out by veteran Jon Andrews saw a neat break by the evergreen Duncan Hughes, who scored under the posts. Another penalty by Hughes extended Droitwich’s lead. The rest of the half was a scrappy affair as the visitors found difficulty in breeching the well organised Shipston defence.

The half-time interval seemed to suit Droitwich who began the second half with much more vigour. A strong run by front-row forward James Protherough found the excellent Phil Horton in support to show his pace and score in the corner.

Two penalties by Hughes put Droitwich comfortably ahead, before he was forced to retire injured to be replaced by the lively Jonny Critchlow.

A kick and chase by full-back Ross Coombes saw him win the race to score another try, with Matt Blackmore slotting the conversion.

As the game wore on Droitwich looked more and more in control, Horton was excellent in the lineout and Harry Riley and James Protherough were excellent in the loose.

Droitwich then turned possession over after a fine tackle by Sean Walker, for James Davies to seize the loose ball and make a sharp break. He fed the ball on to replacement back-row forward Andy Manns who powered over. Again Blackmore added the conversion.

Despite the score-line this had not been one of Droitwich’s finest performances, but nevertheless was an efficient one that sees them into the next round of the competition.

Try-scorer Andy Manns added, “We played in fits and starts today, and never really settled until half-time, but we scored four tries and kept a clean sheet which is always pleasing. Most importantly we are still in the cup!”

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