Stourbridge 17

Whitchurch 27

The Reds made the long journey to Stourbridge aiming to maintain their fourth position in Midlands One West.

On the pitch, the team looked slightly changed from the previous week with several players injured or unavailable.

However, it did not look any inferior to previous sides as Whitchurch powered forward in complete command early on.

After only eight minutes a rolling maul enabled Jake Bailey to cross the line and touch down, which Jake Dodwell converted.

Stourbridge came back and soon managed a try out wide but failed to convert.

The away side now restated their dominance and in the twentieth minute got their reward when Steve Bloore ran over three defenders to score.

Dodwell converted and Whitchurch appeared in complete command.

Stourbridge mounted a long range attack and squeezed in at the corner, with the conversion being missed again.

On the half hour, the game was held up because of a concussion injury to the home centre.

For the last 10 minutes of the half, Whitchurch pressed hard but were frustrated by a series of infringements as penalty followed penalty.

Eventually, with the half looming, they decided to take the points and Dodwell kicked the penalty to make the half-time score 10-17.

Whitchurch began the second-half as they had finished the first.

They made several plays, creating gaps and leaving their opponents gasping.

Finally, Henry Hockenhull broke through the centre and rounded the full back and winger to score.

Dodwell missed from out wide but the reds were not finished and continued their relentless assault on the home side.

After 62 minutes, captain Jonathon Cope crashed over to score the inevitable try and Whitchurch were coasting.

Stourbridge saw their chance as the visitors took their foot off the pedal and exerted some pressure of their own.

Eventually this paid off and they managed a late consolation try of their own.

The conversion made it 17-27 and the game finished shortly afterwards.

Coach Scott Sturdy was happy with the result.

“An outstanding away performance to complete four wins back to back and consolidate fourth position in the league after a difficult January,” he said.

“The emergence of so many new young players means that the club is in good stead moving forward to next season.”

Whitchurch have a tough away game next week to Hereford who lie in fifth place, seven points behind Whitchurch but with two games in hand.

After that the Edgeley Park men have three out of four games at home and will aim to hold on to their fourth place spot for the second season in a row.