Alcester Vets edged out in first fixture of the season

RUGBY UNION

Alcester Vets 19-26 Old Laurentians

Friendly

ALCESTER Veterans lost 26-19 in their first outing of the season in a friendly fixture against Old Laurentians.

The home side exerted early pressure and Phill Birks, who was playing at the unfamiliar position of outside centre, scored the first try of the match and Paul Taylor converted.

Old Laurentians immediately hit back with an incisive break by their centre, who expertly offloaded to his team-mate to cross the line to bring the scores back level and it remained 7-7 for the rest of the half.

An Old Laurents replacement brought fresh legs to his side in the second half and stepped through several attempted tackles to score and give his team their first lead of the game.

Alcester were forced down to 14 men when prop Neil Stone had to leave the pitch due to injury.

The visitors exploited the extra man and scored two quick breakaway tries to open the gap in the scores to 26-7.

Chris Cox made his first appearance for Alcester this season after struggling with persistent, niggling injuries and showed his pace down the right wing before offloading to Scott Carmichael to score which was successfully converted by the reliable foot of Taylor.

From the resulting kick-off Carmichael made a break down field and scored again in a matter of minutes. Taylor made it three out of three with his conversion attempts.

Despite the opposition going down to 14 men after a yellow card was issued, Old Laurentians managed to hold on for the win.

Bedworth 2nds 21-87 Alcester 2nds

Friendly

ALCESTER’S 2nd XV thrashed their Bedworth opponents after running in 13 tries to come away 87-21 winners from their friendly meeting.

Lewis Walker led the way by scoring five of his team’s tries. Luke Spencer and Ross Gard both secured a brace while Jack Green, Toby Allen, Will Silk and Ross Bayliss all crossed the whitewash throughout the game.

Simon Gardner slotted over four conversions, Chris Howell successfully kicked three and Mat Ashby added two points to the ticking scoreboard.

A return to league action on Saturday sees Alcester’s first XV travel to Coventry to take on Midlands Three West (South) leaders Pinley while the 2nd XV welcome their counterparts to take on Pinley 2nds.