Alcester Veterans 19 Old Laurentians 26
ALCESTER Veterans were edged out in their first friendly outing of the season on Saturday by their visitors from Rugby, writes Amy Flynn.
The home side exerted early pressure and Phillip Birks, who was playing in the unfamiliar position of outside centre, scored the first try of the match which 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 for a converted try and the score remained 7-7 until the interval.
An Old Laurentians 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 and the visitors exploited the extra man to score two quickfire tries on the break and open a 26-7 advantage.
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 downfield and scored again in a matter of minutes and Taylor made it three out of three with his conversion attempt.
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 Alcester 2nds 87
ALCESTER 2nds thrashed their Bedworth opponents as they ran in 13 tries in a resounding friendly victory.
Lewis Walker led the way with five tries, Luke Spencer and Ross Gard both secured a brace of tries and Jack Green, Toby Allen, Will Silk and Ross Bayliss all crossed the whitewash.
Simon Gardner slotted over four conversions, Chris Howell successfully kicked three and Mat Ashby added two points to the ticking scoreboard.
Alcester’s first team return to Midlands Three West (South) action on Saturday when they visit Coventry side Pinley. The 2nds face the same opposition at Kings Coughton.
