THE Sun continues to shine on Saturday afternoons but it does not seem to shine too often on the Upton XV these days.

REDDITCH 23 pts, UPTON 19 pts

On Saturday, Upton travelled to play Redditch on their infamous pitch with an end-to-end slope of three metres. It is also often to be found with considerable wet and muddy patches.

Despite all the recent heavy rain the pitch was in good condition and Upton decided to play uphill in the first half, but within 20 minutes Redditch had used the slope to their advantage and scored two converted tries.

Upton's pack was again suffering from changes due to unavailability but they pulled together and time and again drove their larger opponents backwards and claimed more than their fair share of ball from the lineout.

As in previous weeks, Upton were undone by early mistakes. The first try came when Redditch kicked downfield over the advancing Upton backs, followed up and hacked on. The ball bounced up into 'blue' hands and centre Rolls scored with Gray converting. A second try followed minutes later when Redditch winger Smith intercepted a pass on the halfway and raced away to score and Gray converted. Despite prolonged pressure uphill by Upton until half time no scores were forthcoming.

Upton started the second half where they left off, only this time they were successful with Matt Bookham leaping high in the lineout. He claimed the ball and on a switch move, centre Brad Raymond raced through the defence to score, with skipper Rob Heeley converting.

Upton pinned Redditch back in their half again and after 52 minutes, following an Upton set scrum 22 metres out and 10 metres in from touch, scrum half Matt Mitchell went blind. With space running out as the defence closed in, Mitchell chipped ahead and number eight Ben Penson followed up to win the race for the touch down. Heeley converted from wide out to bring the scores level at 14-14.

Upton continued to pressurise but were forced back with penalties for silly indiscretions and Redditch were successful with two long range attempts from number ten Gray who was again on target with a long range drop kick after 70 minutes to make the score 23-14.

Upton threw caution to the wind and made good progress using rolling mauls and lineouts as their platform to launch their backs and this tactic saw Brad Raymond go over for his second try, very reminiscent of his first, 23-19.

Another try would win the match but as Upton were edging nearer to the line they were denied by the final whistle.

Hopefully Upon can now build on their try scoring habit and go on to gain some victories.

With Harbourne withdrawing from tomorrow (Saturday's) planned N Midlands Shield match, a fixture pool game will be needed and then it's off to the depths of Shropshire to Bishop's Castle on November 10 for the next league game.