Saturday, December 6, 2003

DROITWICH Spa RFC First XV's honeymoon period in Midlands Three West (South) was brought to an abrupt end at rivals Pershore.

The result halts a run of six straight league victories, stretching back to early October, and moves the team down to the third in the table.

Director of rugby Julian Bailey said: "All good things have to come to an end. It was a big blow for the lads not scoring any points.

"We were beaten by a better team on the day. Pershore played a simple form of rugby but played it well and stopped us doing what we normally do.

"It wasn't a good performance but the one thing that did come from it was that our lads didn't give up."

Bailey added the result needed to be put into perspective given that Droitwich have just been promoted from a tough league and were playing some good sides.

The hosts opened brightly and scored five minutes in from a scrum close to Droitwich's line.

Spa, without captain Nick Irwin, then drove into the Pershore half but, despite a period of pressure, could not find a way through. After this Spa's performance inexplicably deteriorated while Pershore's game steadily improved. A penalty increased their advantage.

Pershore's forward dominance increased in the second half as captain Andy Watson burst through some weak defence to score under the posts.

Droitwich, also fielding an under-the-weather Matt Blackmore, finally put together a few phases of play, but a lack of direct running never threatened the score. As Droitwich threw one last attack together, a loose pass was intercepted and Pershore scored with the last play of the match.