Berkswell climb away from danger zone...

Berkswell & Balsall took a crucial step away from the lower reaches of the Midlands One West table when they claimed the full five points with a thrilling 28-24 verdict against local rivals Earlsdon.

The villagers got off to a stirring start, breaking through inside five minutes as winger Oliver Eburne rounded off a flowing backs move and doubling their advantage when prop Nick Waite got the final touch to a lineout drive.

A well-constructed try brought Earlsdon back into contention and although Scott Eburne’s 40m interception dash made it 21-7, the visitors had the last word to an eventful first half when a well-sustained assault created a gap in the home cover.

The second period, in contrast, was a tense affair with both defences showing admirable resilience.

An Earlsdon penalty was quickly eclipsed as a scintillating move teed up Oliver Eburne for his second touchdown and Nathan Mitchener made it four conversions from four attempts but Berkswell had to soak up some hefty pressure in the final quarter, especially when Earlsdon cut the arrears to four points five minutes from time.

Barkers’ Butts remain in dangerous waters despite salvaging a consolation point in their 61-29 home reverse against 100-per-cent Hereford.

Rocked by solo tries from Morgan Goodall and Leon Parsons in the opening five minutes, Barkers battled back impressively to restrict the visitors to a 24-17 advantage at the break.

Matthew Wooldridge, Sam Brierley and Chris Priest scored the Barkers tries – the last a superb individual effort converted by Josh Knight – while Tom Ewins and James Watters secured Hereford’s bonus.

The visitors’ pace continued to cause problems for Barkers, Parsons and Ewins pulling them clear before another penalty / lineout drive enabled skipper Wooldridge to log a fourth Barkers’ try.

The home side were winning plenty of possession at that stage, but hopes of a comeback were dashed by counter-attacking touchdowns from Mark Philo and Ali McColl.

To their credit, Barkers’ continued to attack at every opportunity, Knight’s quickly-taken penalty teeing up James Barnes for a fifth try, but Ben Osborne cut through for Hereford’s ninth in overtime, allowing Goodall to drill home his eighth conversion.

Kenilworth registered their fourth win from five league starts when they scraped through 17-16 in a nip-and-tuck battle at Whitchurch.

They started with a bang, Bobby Thompson breaking through to set up a Rhys Jones try converted by Josh Hickman, but the tide then turned as the Shropshire side scored a penalty and two tries to edge into a 13-7 lead at half-time.

Kenilworth hopes sagged when a Joe Yeomanson touchdown was controversially disallowed, but Hickman’s penalty dragged them back into contention and 15 minutes from time Ed Hannam crossed following excellent work by Nick Collett and Mikkel Anderson and Hickman, crucially, slotted home the extras from a daunting angle.

Whitchurch replied almost instantly with a penalty but Kenilworth stood firm to move up to fourth position.

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