DROITWICH RFC Director of Rugby Adam Drew was left delighted by his side’s stunning 48-20 victory against Old Halesonians at the weekend, which followed up on victory over Newbold-on-Avon.
Braces for Matt Handford and Phil Horton were added to by tries for Dan Guest and Paddy Barrow, whilst Bobby Scott-Walker and Chris Hooper successfully kicked the added points at conversions in the Midlands 1 West clash, taking the club into ninth.
The club have been on somewhat of a trend in recent weeks, having won two successive games, followed by two defeats prior to the recent back-to-back wins.
Drew has been left enthused by the application of his side in training recently, and commended his players for putting that work into practice on match-day.
“We’ve played well recently, after those couple of losses which brought us straight back down to earth.
“We took those losses to the training paddock, and we realised what we needed to do to improve and worked on certain things.
“To see that work pay off is very pleasing to see as a coach and we were good value for the win against Old Hales.”
Drew was coy to single out any individual players for their impact in last weekend’s victory, believing the team performing in unison was the most impressive factor.
“I would have to say the team itself were the most impressive, it would be wrong to name individuals, I thought we were excellent all over the pitch on Saturday.
“Old Halesonians are a very good team, but we performed as a squad, and we needed to play well really to back up our win the previous week.
“We defended well, attacked aggressively, and they couldn’t handle us in the end.”
Sitting ninth in the table appears a much more promising sight for Drew and Droitwich RFC compared to previous weeks, but he maintains that survival in the league is the only focus for the club at present.
“My ambition after back-to-back promotions was always to stay in this league, that’s what we’re trying to do.
“It’s been a good learning curve for us this season, experiencing the quality of rugby at this level, and it’s had a great impact on the squad.
“To stay in this league and build momentum going into next year is our primary goal.
“I personally believe we should be two places higher than we are at present, had we won a couple more of our recent games, but as long as we survive we’ll be very pleased.
As with the majority of sides in Midlands 1 West, Droitwich have a week off before their next game against Stoke-on-Trent a week on Saturday (March 23).
Droitwich suffered a narrow 41-38 loss in the reverse fixture at the Glyn Mitchell Memorial Ground in November, and Drew believes the extra week of preparation will play a vital part in improving their chances of a win.
“The lads will have this week off to get some freshness, fortunately there are not many injuries so we’re positive on that front.
“After this week we’ll be back to training next Tuesday ahead of Stoke on Saturday.
“We let them beat us in the last game, we were 12 points up in the last five minutes but then conceded 14 points from two converted tries which was very disappointing.
“Stoke are a very good side, who we won’t be taking lightly – I’ve always said if you play poorly in this league, you’ll get punished.
“We’ve improved defensively since then, so I’m confident we can get a result and continue our winning ways.”
