Droitwich First XV Overcome Barkers

Droitwich did well to recover from a poor first 20 minutes to eventually overhaul a well-drilled Barkers Butts outfit. Droitwich made a number of uncharacteristic errors early on in the encounter by trying to force the ball too much and were soundly punished by the hosts who scored two well-worked tries in quick succession, one of which was converted. Horton and Strutt were simultaneously yellow carded for over-exuberance and their teammates did well not to concede more points during their absence. Despite some on-going issues with discipline, Droitwich showed good determination to battle their way back into the game with tries from Poke and Knight who both crossed the whitewash from close quarters, the second try being converted by Scott-Walker. As the half wore on, the Droitwich forward dominance in tight play began to show and they were eventually rewarded with a penalty try leaving the visitors 19-15 up at half-time.

The half-time talk was focused on keeping things simple and improving discipline and the second half started much more brightly with tries from Brown and Knight steadying the ship. A determined Barkers Butts refused to let their heads drop and fought back with a well-executed unconverted try. A late penalty-kick at goal was missed by Droitwich and the final score therefore remained at 31-22 to Droitwich who also picked up a try bonus.

Coach, Blair Hunter said: “We made extremely hard work of it today with some very loose play in the first 20 minutes and extremely poor discipline throughout the first half. That said, the boys showed a lot of character to come back in the second half to beat an excellent Barkers outfit. I was particularly impressed with their scrummaging and their second try in the first half. I’d like to thank the referee, Martin Sly, for officiating and I was pleased to see Saffer Aron Middleton running touch proving that he can run in a straight line if he really concentrates. Thanks to Barkers for their hospitality and we wish them the very best for the rest of the season.”