Rugby Union
Droitwich retain North Midlands Shield

Droitwich 27 Vesyans 16

North Midlands Shield Final

DROITWICH became the first club to retain the North Midlands Shield when overcoming Vesyans at Dudley Kingswinfrod RFC on Sunday.

Spa produced a superb disciplined performance to overcome their Streetly based opponents and head coach Jon Andrews spoke of his delight afterwards.

"We played so well today both in terms of pace and power, everything we discussed in the run up to the game we did. I can only say a huge well done to the young team,” he said.

Playing against the strong breeze in the first half, Droitwich's tackling in midfield was top class with Mark Strutt coming to the fore to repel the runs of the big opposition back row. In the forwards, the evergreen Nick Godfrey was his usual busy self, as was livewire hooker Rob Poke.

Vesyans opened the scoring with a well struck penalty after Droitwich had collapsed a maul but Spa soon hit back when Steve Greaves powered forward to feed Ian Young who, in turn, released Matt Barnes to

race towards the line. He neatly off-loaded to Craig Mortlemans to dash in under the posts to for a try converted by Bobby Scott-Walker.

Vesyans kicked a penalty before half time but Droitwich really raised their game at the start of the second half with Russ Brown and Alex Saddington powering forward.

Vesyans had no option but to infringe, giving Scott-Walker the chance to successfully kick two well struck penalties. for Spa.

The longer the game went on the more dominant Droitwich were getting in the scrum and when Stuart Brooks was held up over the line, captain Luke Eversham and fellow prop Ian Thomas drove forward and a penalty try was awarded when Vesyans killed the ball.

More strong work by wing Steff Bunjsters found Nathan Broderick in support who fed Ian Young to outstrip the defence and go over to put the result beyond doubt.

Vesyans rallied strongly at the end and scored two well deserved tries to give the final scoreline a much more respectable look but Droitwich had done more than enough to reclaim the trophy.

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