DROITWICH came up again a strong and experienced Moseley side in their final pre-season warm up fixture on Saturday and were defeated 47-18.

The home side will take many positives out of the game and actually out scored the visitors in the second half.

The game started briskly with the visitors running at Droitwich, who were missing a host of first tackles.

Bob Scott-Walker kicked an early penalty to give Droitwich their only points of the first half as they went in to the interval trailing 35-3, which was a fair reflection of the game and Droitwich’s inability to make their tackles count.

Captain James Shewell’s half-time team talk must have struck a chord as the young Droitwich side started the second half much more brightly, Russ Brown drove the side forward and there were some neat touches from Mark Strutt and Steve Poke in the backs.

Good approach work by Matt Jupp and Dean Goddard allowed the ever industrious Rob Poke to power over and score.

Strutt added a second before Brown crossed the line too.

Moseley had the last word, however, as they used backs and forwards well to score under the posts.

Captain Shewell was pleased with the way his team came back in the second period but highlighted the defensive frailties.

He said: "We cannot afford to miss tackle after tackle again a strong and well drilled side like this. We will be working on putting this right."

Spa commence the season in the North Midlands Shield at Edwardians on Saturday (3pm ko).