King's Norton 21 pts, Pershore 29

PERSHORE'S impressive start to the season continued with their seventh win in nine games and at last they were able to take their good home form to what proved to be a difficult away fixture.

In contrast to last week's game at Kidderminster, the weather was kind to both teams although there were early signs, with players slipping over, that the pitch would not be conducive to open running rugby.

The quality of the pitch did not prevent Pershore taking the initiative from the start with Leon Jammal spinning through four or five tackles before crashing over the line for the opening score, which he duly converted to give Pershore a 7-0 lead.

King's Norton could have easily given up after such an early body blow but to their credit they put together a good passage of play and earned a penalty in the Pershore 22.

Another converted penalty brought them within one point and the game was poised at 7-6.

Pershore's response was immediate and some excellent forward play led to Mark Groves forcing his way over to score Pershore's second try.

With Danny Badham's fine try, after an inspired break from Alex Jammal, and the conversion from Leon Jammal, Pershore looked good turning around 19-6 ahead.

As has been the case all too often this season Pershore were let down by indiscipline and King's Norton kicked the penalty.

Within minutes, following poor Pershore restarts, King's Norton had scored two tries and a conversion to lead 21-19.

The introduction of Ben Pullen (back row) and Blair Hunter (hooker) seemed to settle the side down and Pershore adopted a more pragmatic approach to the game.

The forwards recycled the ball time and time again to make the hard yards and sensible use of the boot saw them move up field.

After a period of intense play the ball came out to the backs and a midfield break by Heydon, who drew the defender, put Leon Jammal in for his second try.

From King's Norton's restart the forwards gathered the ball in and some swift handling and a fine solo run from Badham sealed the game 29-21 in Pershore's favour.

Credit must go to the pack who were solid throughout the game. But, had it not been for the 60-yard chase back which prevented a certain try in the first half by man of the match Phil Smith, the outcome could have been very different.