Rugby Union
Battling Bromsgrove are defeated at Preston

DEPLETED Bromsgrove returned from Preston Grasshoppers with their pride firmly in tact on Saturday despite suffering a 32-19 National Two North defeat.

The visitors had to make five changes to the back division but still produced a fine display that kept their illustrious hosts honest throughout.

Much of the early action saw Preston on the front foot and after being met with stubborn resistance for 15 minutes they finally put some points on the scoreboard thanks to Graham Holroyd's penalty.

Preston quickly added to their advantage when full back Sean Taylor dodged a number of tackles whilst running half the length of the pitch and feeding flanker Connor Murphy to score.

It would have been easy at that point for Bromsgrove's heads to drop but it proved to be quite the reverse as they started to apply pressure of their own and within five minutes they had reduced the arrears with a fine solo effort from returning scrum half Aaron Higgins whose arcing run put him over in the corner, Jon Critchlow converted from wide out.

For the remainder of the half Bromsgrove had the majority of the territory but were unable to add to their points tally.

As it was, the home side registered the final points of the half when Holroyd kicked a penalty on the stroke of half time to stretch the lead to 13-7 at the break.

Preston introduced Rugby League legend Sean Long at the start of the second half but it was Bromsgrove who were first to attack.

Again they were unable to turn territory into points and after soaking up a spell of pressure, Preston started to assert themselves again and scored an excellent try when a massive missed pass put Taylor over for the score.

Another try followed five minutes later when Bromsgrove were unable to control their own scrum ball and, with the help of what appeared to be a forward pass, Murphy crossed and Holroyd converted.

That score effectively put the match out of Bromsgrove's reach but they still came back strongly and a huge forward effort saw them score through Drew Harper after a 20m driving maul.

It was then Preston's turn to go on the front foot again and Holroyd converted Rich Morton's try but the visitors were still not finished.

Despite having Burrows binned for upending Long, they had the last word when Higgins scored his second try, diving over the top of a ruck, Critchlow converted.

Bromsgrove, who sit eighth in the table, return to Finstall Park on Saturday where they will entertain seventh placed Stockport.