THE game started late due to the delayed arrival of the Vauxhall Motors side, making their way from Luton in this first round of the national Junior Cup.

UPTON-UPON-SEVERN 32PTS, VAUXHALL MOTORS 17PTS

Upton again started convincingly as is becoming an early season trait of this North Midlands One side. A more worrying characteristic is the alarming way in which they let their opposition back into the fray in the final 20 minutes.

The first ten minutes showed the intensity Upton must portray over long periods if they are to be successful this term. A solid, heavyweight pack clearly had the upper hand again, with Rob Beaker making an impressive first appearance of the season and with Brad Raymond looking sharp in the back division, Upton squeezed the visitors in all areas of play.

It was 11 minutes before the Vauxhall defence was breached. Great handling by the Tether and Heeley combination fed Raymond, who drew in the cover tacklers and set O'Neil free. Still with work to do, he stepped inside the soon to be tormented full-back to go over for the try. Heeley converted and shortly after struck a drop goal to extend the lead.

Upton soon generated another passage of play to excite the larger than usual crowd, swelled by the ranks of marching bands and majorettes attending a competition on other parts of the sports ground. Ball won in a scrum against the head was quickly fed out to Tether, quick hands feeding Watson, who put in Pimlow just inside his own half. Pimlow outstripped the Vauxhall cover and was left with just the full-back to beat. Remembering earlier encounters he showed Pimlow the outside, which he duly took and proceeded to round him effortlessly.

Vauxhall, playing a level higher than Upton normally, showed they had the players to disrupt the home side, but today was not to be their day. Just before half-time, Upton captain Oli Jones went over for a score after crashing through four defensive tackles.

The second-half started in similar fashion, Bookham, off the back of a rolling maul, drove over to score. Upton's forwards dominated the set pieces, Pickering's throws were immaculate and Bookham was towering in the line-out.

The second score came on the hour through Russ Price. He collected the ball on the Vauxhall 22 and expertly collected his own chip ahead, he then jinked though the defensive tackles for a touchdown.

Twelve minutes to go and with Upton tiring, Vauxhall began to throw the ball around more effectively, with first their number eight scoring in the corner, then the impressive outside centre going over with the last move of the game.

Upton's Haribo man-of-the-match was Matthew Bookham.