Gutsy Bromsgrove's late show sinks Old Halesonians

BROMSGROVE’S impressive knack of winning tight matches at the death ensured they earned bragging rights at Wassell Grove.

The Boars produced one of their trademark fight backs at their Midlands rivals.

Trailing 15-6 at one stage, Bromsgrove used their dom- inance in the lineout to pile on pressure and score two late tries to win.

A wet and windy day greeted the visitors as they took on an in-form Hales team, who had won seven of their first eight games.

Bromsgrove were missing some key players with last years top points scorers Jon Critchlow and Tom Hunt both out injured.

Fortunately for the Boars they took the initiative when James Upton scored a first-minute penalty.

Upton applied pressure with raking kicks into the corner as Old Hales struggled to get out of their 22.

Old Hales seized an opportunity from a poor kick by Ollie Bache which was charged down and Andy Holloway to give Old Hales a fortunate 5-3 lead.

But the away side responded well after Chris Hooper missed a penalty for the hosts.

Bromsgrove edged ahead before half-time when Upton tucked away another penalty, although he also squandered another chance to extend their lead.

James Shewell was sin-binned after some foul play off the ball as Bromsgrove were reduced to 14 men.

In the second half, the hosts tried to hit back but the Bromsgrove forwards were made of stern stuff, and they caused Hales to lose the ball.

In testing conditions a number of handling errors were creeping in, and from the ensuing scrums penalties were being awarded against both sides Hales edged into the lead again when they scored from a catch and drive.

The advantage was stretched to 15-6 with a third Hales touch down but Bromsgrove rallied.

Great driving by all the forwards and with head coach and player Dan Protherough using the bench well, the pack worked against the elements into the opposition 22.

A great catch by Phil Horton and the resultant drive resulted in a try for Gino Belmonte despite the frantic efforts of Old Hales to collapse the driving maul.

Old Hales had the wind and the slope in their favour but they could not use the condtions to their advantage.

Oli Rayner missed a penalty for the hosts an Bromsgrove scented victory.

Good work by Chris Danks, Horton and Upton piled the pressure on the Hagley-based side before James Shewell found a gap in their defence to score the winning try.