Aston returned to winning ways, blitzing Shrewsbury with an 8 try romp in a pulsating game – which Aston appeared to have sewn up at half-time, only to see Shrewsbury rally before Aston ran away in the final quarter .

Following a series of games where Aston had missed out by a single score, they were determined to stamp their authority on the game early on, and did so in the best possible way. From the kick off Aston secured an attacking scrum, and moved the ball blind where veteran winger Darran Gardener crashed over for a try with barely 60 seconds on the clock. Whilst the touchline conversion was missed, Blake Bennett made amends just 2 minutes later with a 25 metre penalty to put Aston 8-0 ahead.

Shrewsbury attempted to use their big back row to get themselves into the game, but determined defence from Aston held them at bay. Aston responded on 27 minutes when skipper Chris Goldsmith cut a fine line to breach the first line of defence, and fed full back Rob Chesner. He in turn made a superb 40 metre break before attracting the attention of the final 2 Shrewsbury defenders, and popped the ball to Gareth Jones, who ran in unopposed under the posts. Blake Bennett added the 2 extra points.

This was quickly followed by a catch and drive from a 5 yard line out, a series of quick rucks ensued from which 2nd Row Paul Finnemore was on hand to force his way over in the corner to take the score to 20-0.

Shrewsbury picked up what appeared at the time to be just a consolation try when their centre gathered a loose ball and cantered in from 30 yard under the posts to make the conversion a formality.

Immediately from the restart Paul Finnemore gathered the kick, set up a ruck which released quick ball to the backs. Smooth hands saw the ball reach young winger Gareth Jones 15 metres out, but he still had much to do. A couple of sidesteps later and he had beaten the 3 covering defenders to score his second try of the half on what was proving to be an impressive debut from the 17 year old. The final score of the first half came from a Shrewsbury penalty from 35 metres to make the score 25-10.

What appeared to be a comfortable lead was quickly eaten into, as Shrewsbury came back strongly in the 2nd half. A penalty immediately from the kick off was quickly followed by another converted try when a loose Aston pass was picked up by the Shrewsbury centre and he ran through under the posts to bring the score back to 25-10.

Shrewsbury continued to take the game to Aston, and had 2 further opportunities to narrow the gap from penalties, but both drifted wide of the uprights. These misses appeared to instil greater confidence in the Aston side, and the last 20 minutes saw a further 4 tries for the home team. After a Shrewsbury forward had been sin-binned for persistent infringements, a quick tap penalty put Chris Cheney in at the corner, which capped a slick performance from the scrum-half.

Paul Horrocks, who had replaced Michael Tate at half time then forced his way over from a 5 yard line out; a try that was improved by Bennett’s conversion. Straight from the kick off a catch and 50 metre break by back row Marcus Harewood set up a series of close drives, and from one of these, the ball squirted loose to allow replacement winger Lea Ross to pounce for the penultimate try.

With the clock ticking down, another quick break, this time from the other back row Chris Balmforth who would later be named Man of the Match, saw him gallop across the line from 40 metres out to complete the scoring.

Afterwards Coach Allan Mitchell was obviously pleased with the overall result, and the scoring of 8 tries, but mindful that a convincing half time lead had been closed in the second half before Aston had stretched away again. The performances of the 2 debutants, Gareth Jones and prop Ian Turner also gave him cause for pleasure, along with a more structured and composed performance for the majority of the game.

Match photos courtesy of John Walker - please look at the Pictures area for additional images.