Midlands five

Coventry Welsh 11 Evesham 3 Welsh resisted some fierce pressure from a hefty pack for a valuable win. Luke Horan provided the defining moment of the match when he charged down a chip kick in his own half, gathered the loose ball and out-sprinted the covering defence to cross in the corner for a splendid solo try. Both sides tried to run the ball but on a bitterly cold day errors were

certain and Horan capitalised with two well-taken kicks to take Welsh 11 points clear.

* Stoke Old Boys 19 Copsewood 0

THERE wasn’t much fluent rugby but Old Boys took their chances.

Gary Brewerton opened their account with a try from a quickly-taken penalty before a raking crossfield ball by Rob Morris opened the way for Dean Cowen. Tom Stokes then fired home a hat-trick of penalties.

* Harbury 6 Manor Park 7

HARBURY lost an unbeaten home record with an abject performance.

Forced back in the opening stages, and unable to use what little good ball came their way, the villagers buckled in the 17th minute when Park forced a scrum five yards out and barged their way over the line for a converted try.

Harbury made more attacking headway but sloppy play at key moments confined them to a lone Richard Mazurek penalty before the interval.

Mazurek landed another kick after centre Dave Flegg was obstructed in full flight. Skipper Jeff Foster, on for the final 15 minutes, added urgency but his team’s final assault petered out when they were penalised for not binding two metres from the line.