Alcester RFC

In a difficult game to watch, Alcester fought hard to keep their winning momentum with a 29-19 victory over Kenilworth II.

It was a frustrating start to the game as both sides struggled to string any length of play together as cold hands resulted in many dropped balls.

Alcester's pack dominated early on and a great driving maul saw the red and blacks gain some good yards before the ball was spun wide, eventually making it to Tom Burgess to open the scoring.

A quarter of an hour in and the home side levelled the scores after bouncing out of several defensive tackles which angered Alcester. The visitors regrouped behind the posts before rallying from the restart to score in retaliation. Youngster Pavlan Sembakuttige made a break up the wing before several close passes landed at Antony Cauvin to power over, sealed with a good conversion.

Alcester went on the attack again and applied pressure on the Kenilworth's line. It was messy and a pile of bodies but George Green had the ball down over the line at the bottom of the heap.

The visitors had a healthy lead of 17-5 at half time.

Kenilworth started the second half with a renewed intensity and a catch and drive from their lineout saw the home side over for their second with a good conversion.

Substitute winger Dwayne Cruickshank injected pace and energy in to the game as the afternoon went on, stunning the defense as he shimmied his way to the line.

With three minutes to go, Alcester looked secure but they took their foot off the pedal a little too soon as they saw a yellow card for a high tackle and Kenilworth were able to squeeze one last try out of the game. Their last push made no difference to the result and Alcester took five points away from the game and held on to the league top spot.

Next weekend the side face Woodrush at home, who they held to a scoreless defeat in the reverse fixture earlier in the year. The second team are away to Coventry Saracens.