Sat 16 Sep 2023, 15:00
Daventry 51 - 19 Alcester 2nd XV
Alcester 2’s made the long journey to Daventry for their second league fixture of the season and despite resilience and a good battle were outplayed 51-19 by more experienced opponents.
The hosts punished Alcester early on, taking advantage of a few missed tackles to get the game's first try but that acted as a wakeup call for Alcester who switched on and brought the fight back to Daventry.
Alcester pushed the hosts back into their 22 where great line speed and defensive pressure forced an error from Daventry. Luke Spencer claimed the ball and punched through the line to score under the posts and bagged the conversion to bring the scores level.
A well-struck penalty by the Daventry fly half gave them a narrow lead and for a while the game was evenly contested, until Daventry applied additional pressure and capitalised on handling errors and soft tackles from Alcester, taking a two try advantage into the second half.
As injuries took their toll on both sides, it was Daventry who asserted themselves to add yet more unanswered tries. With the game sadly beyond Alcester’s reach, the boys did themselves proud and never gave up the fight.
The final quarter of the game saw Alcester’s scrum half Harry Roderick pick up the ball at the back of a ruck to dive over from short range. This was followed by an impressive individual effort from Sidney Tunstall who managed to avoid the defense and acrobatically dive into the corner and safely dot the ball down.
Alcester’s man of the match was James Roberts who did a fantastic job stepping in at Fly Half. James was also pivotal in helping to get a side together to fulfil the fixture. Final mention is to Paul Gardner who impressed on his debut for the club.
Local rivals Stratford head to Kings Coughton next week for what is always an entertaining game.
