Worcestershire Sport

Evesham maintain Twickenham dream

Evesham 9 Oadby Wyggestonians 3
A DREAM final date at Twickenham is drawing tantalisingly closer for Evesham after they booked a place in the Midlands semi-finals of the National Junior Vase with a tense victory over their Leicestershire visitors in the Midlands last eight stage on Saturday.
The victory was a huge boost for Evesham as they overcame what was their biggest challenge of the season so far to book a place in the national last 16 of the competition, just three matches from a final appearance at the home of rugby.
A fine turnout of spectators meant the atmosphere was lively from the start, as was the rugby, and there was no hesitation from the closely matched teams in exchanging first blows, but it was the visitors who claimed the majority of early possession and applied pressure on Evesham's defence.
Some sturdy tackles from the likes of Luke Matthews and Craig Brotherton dampened Oadby's onslaught though and gave the hosts precious time to get back on the offensive.
Evesham began to concentrate and events started to play out as planned as the scrum showed just how fiercely Jamie Cameron and Kerren Lippett could drive the pack forward.
This shift of power seemed to throw Oadby off balance briefly, allowing a penalty to be awarded to Evesham, which Mike Diston converted to put the hosts 3-0 up.
The visitors swooped back into action following this unexpected score and soon influenced an Evesham player to kick for a lineout dangerously close to his own try line, but a skilful steal from David Scott terminated Oadby's hopes on this run and the ball was kicked into the clear.
Evesham displayed consistently impressive defence for the rest of the half, halting every one of Oadby's advances, but the hosts' efforts after the restart were unfortunately undisciplined and a penalty was almost immediately conceded to the Wyggestonians to level the score.
When play recommenced, Dave Marsh saw his chance and made a sharp break with the ball. He passed to Matt Grove, who looked optimistic, but was dragged into touch at the last moment and the crowd were still left thirsty for a try.
Oadby had not learnt from their earlier mistake and conceded another penalty, much to the pleasure of Diston's kicking foot, and this put Evesham back ahead at 6-3.
Both teams were playing on a long string of victories, unbeaten in their league tables, so neither was showing signs of easing off.
The surprisingly eloquent banter of the crowd combined with the unpredictable back and forth nature of play presented possibly the most animated game Evesham have hosted this season.
However, the locals really grasped the importance of the occasion towards the end and, with time ticking away all too quickly for Oadby, a panicked late tackle on Marsh as he closed in on the try line provided one more penalty for the hosts, which was readily put between the posts by Diston to make it 9-3.
The rapid play continued without points for the remaining minutes, however there was never a dull moment as Evesham flaunted some of the most committed tackles their fans have seen all season.
Saturday's match ball was sponsored by Allchurch Bailey & Co.
Midlands Four West (South) leaders Evesham host Birmingham Exiles on Saturday.

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