Evesham 25pts, Old Yardleians 23

EVESHAM opened the new season with a narrow home victory over their perennial adversaries Old Yardleians on Saturday with a last minute try from centre Ian Hurley.

Evesham started the brighter of the two sides and should have taken an early lead as they pressurised the OY's line with a series of tap penalties. However, the visitors' defence held solid and after this onsl-aught they managed to score themselves following a succession of scrums in the Evesham 22.

Evesham were being caught by some interpretations of the new rules introduced this season and OY's extended their lead with a second try shortly afterwards. This followed a stream of penalties awarded against the home side.

The home side reduced the deficit with a Phil Parsons penalty and then with their first try of the game.

Scrum half Chris Evis broke blind off a scrum on the halfway. He evaded several defenders before passing to winger James Maude. Maude outpaced the cover to score in the corner. Parsons failed with the conversion attempt to leave Evesham trailing 10-8.

The second half was a topsy- affair with both sides running a lot of ball. Evesham appeared to have the game under control as Parsons put them ahead with a penalty but they were pulled back when they looked like scoring on more than one occasion for forward passes.

OY's reclaimed their lead with two penalties and then a converted try against the run of play to lead 23-11. Evesham rallied again and following a superb passage of play from inside their own half prop Chris Maritza barraged his way over the line for a converted try to reduce the deficit to just five points.

The last five minutes was played at a frantic pace and good counter attacking play created the opportunity for Hurley to slip through a gap and score under the posts. Parsons converted.

The game was sponsored by Jewsons, the club's Evesham first team kit sponsors.

Evesham entertain Trinity Guild on Saturday in the first round of the NPI Cup (3).

The mini and junior section restarts on Sunday, September 17 at 10am. All existing and new players are invited to attend.Contact Cath Robinson on 01386 881653.