Uttoxeter 56 v Bromyard 0
UTTOXETER began their Midlands Four West (North) campaign with a crushing defeat of Herefordshire side Bromyard at Oldfields.
The town side crossed the line nine times as they racked up a half-century of points for the first time since March 2010.
Director of rugby Donald Hayes said: “This was an outstanding start to the league campaign and it was fantastic to see us reap the rewards from the hard work we put in on finishing during the week prior to the fixture.”
Uttoxeter started the match at a blistering pace and had an early opportunity when the visitors were penalised for killing the ball, but Paul Milward dragged his penalty wide.
The home team eventually went over after 15 minutes following persistent pressure.
Winger James Gill weaved his way forward before being brought down just short of the line.
However, Tim Carr was on hand to charge through as he picked up the ball and handed off one defender before ploughing over a final player to touch down 20 metres left of the posts.
Milward was on target this time as the extras were added to give Uttoxeter a 7-0 lead.
Bromyard had a few attacks into Uttoxeter’s half, but struggled to penetrate the 22.
From a line-out, Steve Woolley’s pass was held by Carr, a driving maul was set up and Uttoxeter steamed forward.
The maul collapsed just short, but captain Matt Nance picked up and dived over the line on the left for a try. Milward could not add the conversion.
Flanker Jim Holmes then suffered a knock and was replaced by Miles Pilcher.
Uttoxeter added one further score in the first half after Milward changed the direction of play and spun the ball out to flyhalf Lewis Bain.
James Williams made a decoy run and Bain spotted the breach in the defence to feed Alex Crisp, who hit the ball at pace and ran in on an angle before diving over close to the posts.
Uttoxeter broke through again seven minutes into the second half after Gill was tackled just short of the line.
Allen rucked out to create clean ball and Crisp’s persistency paid off as he picked up and dived over for his second try of the match to make the score 24-0.
The lead was extended again shortly afterwards with an excellent team try started by lock Dave Chell and ended by Gill out-sprinting an opponent and stepping inside the full-back to touch down for an unconverted try.
Winger Dale Spratt scored next for the hosts when he gathered the loose ball and shrugged off a tackler before proving too fast for the cover as he dived in the far right corner.
Spratt took over the kicking duties, but was just off target with the tough opportunity as the lead was stretched to 34-0.
Gill scored his second try as Uttoxeter put together another excellent team move.
The pack took the ball forward and linked with the backs to take play into Bromyard’s 22.
When the ball was spun out wide, the backs attacked the space with precision as the ball quickly went through the hands of Bain and Williams until Crisp drew the final man and popped out to Gill, who sprinted past the cover and ran back inside to touch down.
Williams took up the kicking duties, and did so with success as his effort sailed perfectly between the posts to make the score 41-0.
Gill then breezed past the first Bromyard defender and out-sprinted the cover as he ran in from the halfway line to complete his hat-trick, with Williams adding the conversion.
In the closing minutes, Bromyard were on the attack, but Allen ripped the ball from the visitors and made a break up the right, where he linked well with Carr and Chell.
Crisp popped the ball on to John Parton, who crashed through two defenders and the fringe of a ruck to touch down to the left of the posts.
Williams converted with a drop goal to make the final score 55-0.
Carr and Gill shared the man of the match award.
Uttoxeter travel to Birmingham side Five Ways Old Edwardians, who will be looking to bounce back from a crushing 70-3 defeat to local rivals Harbourne, on Saturday.
