Sat 18 Feb 2023
Alcester recorded another bonus point victory with a 9 try thumping of Rugby St Andrews to move back to within 2 points of league leaders Manor Park, who were themselves victorious at Claverdon, but didn’t claim the try bonus point this week.
Despite the comprehensive score line, for 55 minutes of the game, it was a sometimes frustrating performance by the home side, with spilled passes, wrong options and a general lack of cohesion disrupting any flow to their play and making for a scrappy contest.
Playing up the slope in the first half, Alcester led 7-0 at the break after a relatively uneventful first half, with Matt Johnson’s try, converted by Ed Gough the highlight.
The visitors levelled the scores early in the second half with a converted try of their own and threatened briefly to get on top, but the home side responded with a second try after centre Jamie Harland crashed through two tackles on his way to the line, following some back play reminiscent of the fluidity that we have become more familiar with at Kings Coughton this season, and that the first half was lacking.
Josh O’Connor was inches from increasing Alcester’s lead after the referee adjudged that he had touched down just over the dead ball line as he chased a ball that has been hacked ahead.
From the resulting 22 metre drop out, Matt Johnson charged the clearance down and the home side regained possession and put the phases in, culminating in man of the match Ant Cauvin crashing over for a 17-7 lead.
From then, Alcester really cut loose and ran the scores in, almost at will as the bigger and older visiting pack tired, and their heads dropped as they faced defeat.
Straight from the restart from Cauvin’s try, the visitors spilled the ball, which wing Mark Burrell gathered and outpaced several defenders for a smart score from range. Ed Gough converted.
Again, immediately from the kick off, the ball was popped to flanker Lewis Wright who powered his way to line from his own half, bursting through tackles early in his run to put his side clear at 29-7 in front.
Substitute wing, Ollie Hopkins, was in the thick of the action, carrying the ball on a number of occasions on trade mark powerful runs. From one and have scattering the visitors defence, he popped the ball to Jamie Harland for the Alcester centre to cross the line for his second score. Ed Gough again converted for a 36-7 lead.
Next Lewis Wright scored a carbon copy try of his first one, running in from his own half, before Ollie Hopkins got a deserved try, again running in from inside his own half. Ed Gough converted Hopkins try.
In a rare foray upfield, the visitors responded with a try of their own as their big tight head prop crashed over for a try that was converted, before Alcester’s Iuean Hopkin rounded off the scoring with Alcester’s 9th try to leave the final score at 53-14.
As well as the result, the bright spot from the afternoon was how the home pack, featuring a few changes from last week, held their own in the tight against much bigger opponents.
Alcester are at home again on Saturday 25th February for their penultimate home league game of the season, as they play Bromyard in a rearranged game from the match that was lost to the icy conditions before Christmas. Kick off at Kings Coughton is 2.15pm
