Bredon 6pts, Evesham 26

EVESHAM claimed the North Midlands One South championship on Saturday with a hard-fought victory over a gutsy Bredon Star side.

Evesham, knowing a win would clinch the title, went into the match full of confidence after recent results but knew how dangerous Bredon could be after losing to them at the start of the season.

The visitors started the game the stronger, with big-running centres Adam Huttlestone and Luke Fishlock making inroads into the tenacious Bredon defence.

Evesham were the first to score. After a clever dummy in the centres, Matt Grove drew the full-back and put in winger Matt Jacques. Evesham were starting to put phases together, but could not turn pressure into points other than two Grove penalties.

The second half saw Bredon start the brighter and come back into the game. After periods of sloppy play by Evesham, the home side in turn replied with two penalties.

For the remainder of the half, scrum-half Gary Diston and fly-half Chris Evis controlled the game. The Evesham pack were starting to wear the home side down and were playing superbly as a unit.

Mick Hodges, Ben Whatmore and Dave Scott were prominent and skipper Luke Matthews, Jim Moulton and Tim Webb were starting to make dents in the Bredon defence.

After such an attack, Evesham scored another try through one of their players of the season, number eight Will Bailey. Grove converted to see Evesham start to pull away. Another Grove penalty killed the game off but there was still time for a final try for skipper Luke Matthews.