TWO tries from Sam Davenport helped Droitwich to a much-needed 27-15 home victory against mid-table Old Yardleians in Midlands Two West (South).

The visitors started brightly, in tough conditions, and scored the first try of the match inside the opening two minutes.

Spa knew they had to respond promptly and, to their credit, dug deep and were rewarded by a fine individual try from Davenport, who produced a chip-and-chase to cross under the posts.

Spa increased the tempo and soon notched their second try.

A great team effort provided Dan Wilkinson with the ball and the winger used his pace and power to beat three defenders to score in the corner. Bobby Scott-Walker completed the conversion.

With the wind in Yardley’s favour in the first-half, they kicked well to the corners and, with a good field position, made it count with their second try.

But Droitwich soon responded through Chris Danks, who kicked a penalty, to give the hosts a 17-10 interval advantage.

The second-half started with Danks kicking Spa into good attacking areas but they struggled to win their own set-piece which was not good for their pursuit of a much-needed bonus point.

However, good turnover ball by Luke Topping allowed Stephen Poke to slip a pass to Davenport who produced a brilliant solo effort to run the length of the pitch and score under the posts much to the rapture of the crowd. Ed Wormington added the conversion and slotted a penalty to put Spa into a healthy lead.

Spa knew they needed one more try for a bonus point, but the visitors defended stoutly and didn’t give in. Russ Brown went close for Spa before Yardley scored a try of their own in the last play of the game.

This was a much-needed victory for Spa who continue to pick up points in their quest for survival. Spa travel to Banbury on Saturday.