Sport in Brief

Evesham u12s.

EVESHAM set out with purpose to put their early-season missed tackles and slow starts behind them.

Against Stow-on-the-Wold, in a far more exciting match than the scoreless game suggests, they penned their visitors in for the first-half, attacking with ball in hand and moving up as a line to deny their opponents any room with the ball.

Pressure produced a penalty and Will Evans ran on to the tap at speed to drive over the line, but was held up.

The second-half was more even, play went back and forward as both teams sought to break the deadlock.

Stow stormed out of defence and looked clear, but a crashing tackle by Lewis Horne kept the scores level.

n Against a strong Redditch side, Evesham raised their game at the ruck and took the spoils but fell to a 12-7 defeat.

Despite conceding an early try from a five-metre scrum, they hit back hard. The forwards turned over possession and behind them scrum-half Kyle Wilkes mixed up the lines of attack.

He fed Zeke Evans who broke the defensive line with speed and strength for a stunning try.

Redditch drove over to regain the lead in the second-half, but Evesham were far from finished.

They crossed the line but were denied twice, first as the pack drove a maul over from 10 metres but were held up, then for a knock-on as they chased Will Bugg’s break from his own line.

Dudley Kingswinford u16s 17, Evesham u16s 14.

EVESHAM travelled to Dudley Kingswinford for the first round proper of the North Midlands Cup.

They played with intense commitment and bravery but fell just short of a memorable victory, losing 17-14.

DK started strongly and, with the wind behind them, dominated the early play.

They scored two converted tries in the first 20 minutes and only superb tackles prevented more points being conceded.

Matt Camp, Alex Stoddart and Wilf Watson were impressive, Henry Hopper saved a try and Kieran Grady covered brilliantly at full-back, stopping two certain scores.

Despite the early pressure, Evesham finished the first-half on top, putting lots of pressure on the DK line in the last 10 minutes and they forced several penalties but were unable to score.

They continued the second-half in the same vein. The forwards picked-and-drove impressively and secured good ball. Dom Berry, Sam Wright, Ash Icke and man-of-the-match Kieran Nicholls all caught the eye.

However, it was the backs’ excellent defensive work that created the first try with Ben Middlicott ripping the ball to set up Berry for a charge upfield. Ash Charlton was quick to support and see the space on the wing for Jay Hann to sprint into and score. Moments later, Grady collected a DK attempted drop-kick in his own 22 and seared through the entire defence to score. Mike Harris expertly converted both tries to leave the scores level.

The tension mounted, both sides raised their games but neither could cross the whitewash.

It was a well-taken DK penalty kick from over 30 metres out that settled the contest.

Evesham now enter the plate competition and will face Stourbridge on December 11.

MARTIAL ARTS.

SAM Joyner, of Pershore Kickboxing Club, participated in a five-round Thai title fight in Bristol.

He showed great strength and overpowered his opponent to win on points.

Joyner will next be in action when he competes in France later this year.

RESULTS.

FOOTBALL: Athium Midland Combination Premier Division: Southam United 5 Pershore Town 0. Division One: Littleton 3 FC Glades Sporting 0.

RUGBY UNION: Midlands Three West (South): Old Leamingtonians 51 Evesham 7.

HOCKEY.

ENER-G Men’s League West Midlands Division One: Evesham 0 Old Wulfrunians 2.

Division Two: Pershore 2 Ludlow 2.

ROWING EVESHAM CLUB.

EVESHAM’S junior squad performed well at Henley’s annual sculls head.

The event is raced over three kilometres and down some of the Henley Royal Regatta course.

There was just one win coming from Liam Tustin in the J16 single sculls in a time of 12 minutes 40 seconds, eight seconds ahead of a competitor from Hinksey Sculling School.

But there were also a number of second places. The first of these came from the WJ15 coxed quad of Lauren Caddy, Flo Pickles, Frances Russell and Ellie Smith, coxed by Katie Griffiths, in a time of 12.53, just two seconds behind the winners from Latymer Upper School.

Pickles competed in the WJ15 single sculls to come away with another second place in a time of 14.03, just behind last year’s national championships winner from Nottingham.

Evesham’s WJ16 double scull of Sadie Bryan and Hattie Beech completed the course in 13.49 to gain their second place, 11 seconds behind a crew from Tideway Scullers.

The J18 single scullers were next to take to the water with a strong field of competitors from all over the country.

Evesham managed to claim three out of the top four places with a sculler from Star and Arrow claiming the win.

Evesham had Jack Towers in second place in 12.33, Alex Russell in third in 12.36 and James Waterhouse fourth in 12.42.