Skipper Silk bags a brace as Alcester edge victory
Alcester 33 Droitwich 22
ALCESTER returned to winning ways with a hard-fought win over their opponents from the other end of the Saltway in a first ever meeting of these two sides in league rugby, reports Andy Flynn.
Playing up the slope in the first half, Alcester took the lead inside seven minutes when skipper Will Silk popped up in support of a fluent move by his backline. Ed Gough converted.
Droitwich hit back almost immediately with a try of their own to bring the score to 7-5.
The end-to-end nature of the game continued when Alcester doubled their score through hooker Max Biltcliffe after a driven line-out, which Gough again converted.
With the home side in the ascendancy now, skipper Will Silk doubled his personal try count with a near carbon copy of his first, which Gough again converted for a 21-5 lead.
The visitors hit back just before half-time with their second try scored under a pile of bodies which was converted for 21-12 and they nearly narrowed the gap further with an incisive break which was only halted by a tap tackle by Lewis Wright as the Droitwich attacker neared the line.
Droitwich were reduced to 14 players just before the break, when one of their second rows was yellow carded for an off the ball challenge.
Alcester reclaimed the ascendancy in the second half but had to wait 15 minutes before increasing their lead, No 8 Christian Rushton scoring the bonus point try on his birthday.
Droitwich claimed their third try midway through the half and the end-to-end nature of the game continued with a brilliant ‘no look’ pass from Alcester’s Gough set Wright free for a score his performance deserved. Gough again converted.
In the closing stages Droitwich pulled a further try back to complete the scoring at 33-22 and claim their own try scoring bonus point.
Liam Tallent scored the only points for Alcester 2nds as they were beaten 21-5 by Daventry 2nds.
Arguably, Alcester were the better side for much of the game but came across opposition more clinical in the key areas.
Daventry ran in three tries, one of them in the opening half which also saw their scrum-half and Alcester’s Morgan O’Dell sin binned for an altercation.
