REDDITCH Rugby Club breathed a huge sigh of relief this week when they managed to avoid relegation from Midlands Division 4 West South.

Apart from having to defeat their final opponents Claverdon, they also had to rely on rock bottom side Tenbury turning over relegation rivals Birmingham Civil Service in order to beat the drop.

Redditch repelled Claverdon by a 31-10 scoreline but survival was assured shortly afterwards when news arrived that Tenbury eclipsed the Civil Service 38-13.

Redditch numbers had been boosted by Presidents Day which enabled celebrations to linger on well into the night.

Redditch started their contest with Claverdon in determined manner and soon made the pressure tell with fly-half Tom Saddington starting the move which Josh Kearney continued before Rafa Jarka forced his way over the line for Sam Gladwin to convert.

With Claverdon pegged back inside their own half a further try followed for Nathan Matthews and Redditch led 12-0 at half time.

Will Ballion then had a try ruled out for an earlier offence before Lewis Saddington cut a perfect line under the posts for Gladwin to fire over the conversion.

Saddington then got his second try to put Redditch 26-0 ahead, bagging the bonus point in the process.

But Redditch were guilty of taking their eye off the ball and let Claverdon back into the game with a try almost immediately from the restart.

The try proved of little consequence as Redditch responded with a fifth try after skipper James Mills took a quick tap penalty and sent Ash Mooney diving over for the final score of the season.

Claverdon did manage to salvage a second try with the last move of the match but Redditch had done enough to secure the result by this stage.

It was a good day for Redditch, their Seconds XV also beat a Claverdon team.

Redditch are due to stage their AGM this Thursday while their awards night follows in May.