UPTON travelled into Shropshire for their final league match of the season against North Midlands One (South) leaders Cleobury Mortimer.

CLEOBURY MORTIMER 27pts, UPTON 5pts

The sun was out but the ground was still quite wet and energy sapping.

In the reverse match before Christmas, Upton took Cleobury apart with ease, but this must have been the wake-up call that Cleobury needed because since then they have taken big strides upwards.

Upton took the lead after five minutes when the forwards and backs linked well by spreading the ball wide and left wing Nigel Watson ran round the cover for the unconverted try.

Cleobury showed why they are league leaders and came back straight away with a penalty from 40 metres out and this was followed by try from the right wing to take the lead 8-5.

During the next 30 minutes up to half-time, Upton were forced to make two replacements in the pack through injuries and Cleobury scored two more tries, one converted, when the cover ran out on the blind side, to lead 20-5.

Upton came back at the restart and kept Cleobury in their own half for 20 minutes but good defence kept Upton out. With 15 minutes to go, Cleobury were able to bring on fresh legs which in turn led to another converted try and the final score of 27-5.

So Cleobury got their revenge and march on and Upton remain in mid-table having played all their league matches.

Some of the team now head down to South Africa on tour, with ex-captain Rob Heeley taking the lead role.