HEAD coach Dan Protherough hailed his Bromsgrove players’ character and guts after they edged out derby rivals Old Halesonians.

The Boars defied the elements to come from 15-6 down to beat their National Division Three Midlands rivals by just a single point at Wassell Grove.

The win was even more remarkable because the Finstall Park outfit had been playing into the wind after the break, after failing to take advantage of the conditions in the first half.

Hales scored two second half tries to take a nine point lead but tries for Gino Belmonte and James Shewell turned the tide.

Protherough said: “It was a funny game because we had the wind with us in the first half but we didn’t play that well and only took a 6-5 lead into the break.

“At that stage I realised we were going to have to play extremely well to get something from the game but the lads demonstrated fantastic character and a lot of guts to win the game.

“We were very good at our lineouts which allowed us to put pressure on Old Hales and they missed a chance to extend the lead at 15-11 but missed the penalty.

“You could sense the nerves around the ground and we kept stealing their lineouts.

“We kept pushing and pushing and won the game.

“If you look back at our games against Old Hales there is only a handful of points in them. Both teams left everything on the pitch and it could have gone either way.”

The win was even more impressive because the Boars had lost the influential Jon Critchlow for a number of weeks after he broke his finger in training.

Bromsgrove remain fourth despite winning as many games at the two teams above them.

However, Protherough wants his players to earn more bonus points.

He said: “We had a difficult period where we’ve missed players because of the World Cup and injury and despite that we’ve managed to win games.

“So hopefully we can start to show that we can improve and play good rugby as well.

“Bonus points are an issue, even in the games we lost we didn’t pick any up, so it’s something we need to improve on.”

Bromsgrove tackle Old Northamptonians at home on Saturday.

Kick off is at 2.15pm.