Stourbridge 7
Droitwich 23
Midlands Division Three West (South)


DROITWICH kept up the pressure on leaders Sutton Coldfield by winning comfortably at Stourbridge Lions in Midlands Three West (South).

Tries by Craig Mortlemans, Stevie Poke and Sean Walker were enough to consolidate Droitwich's second place in the table.

A cold, blustery wind made rugby difficult but both sides tried to keep the ball moving.

Droitwich took the lead with two Matt Blackmore penalties before the first try.

Mortlemans made it 11-0 before the interval after a good move involving Jonny Critchlow, Ross Coombes and Walker.

Droitwich moved up a gear in the second period and scored twice inside the first 10 minutes.

First, Poke powered over after number eight Jon Andrews picked up from the base of a scrum.

Then good running from James Protherough and Ben Cotterell saw prop James Shewell thunder towards the line and provide Walker with the try.

Blackmore extended the lead with a tricky conversion but the hosts reduced the deficit with a try after Poke was unable to clear a hack downfield.

Man-of-the-match Poke praised his side's team-work.

He said the conditions made ball handling difficult.

"The icy wind made handling difficult but we had a game-plan and stuck to it," said Poke.

"The three tries we scored were all down to support play and team-work, which is especially pleasing."