Sat 10 Sep 2022
With the match switched to the slopes of Terry’s Field it was always going to be a game of two halves. Droitwich won the toss and decided to run up hill. However, before proceedings began a 2 minute silence was observed to respect the passing of our queen.
Redditch failed to capitalise on the hill and played most of the first quarter in their own half despite one devastating break by centre Josh Kearney, which was only broken up by an heroic tackle from Droitwich full back Jordan Walters. As the quarter drew to a close Josh made another break but this time winger Jonathan Beale was on hand to take the pass and score in the corner. Will Spires added the extras.
It was another 10 minutes before Redditch debutant Aaron Bennett spotted the smallest of gaps on the blind side and fed full back Aaron Atkinson who repeated his trademark handoff from last week to score wide out.
With Redditch on the attack Droitwich gave away a string of penalties which led to Mikey Adams crashing over from close range to score. Then as the half drew to a close a slight mishandle by the visitors saw Jonathan Beale strip the ball and race 70 metres to score. Will Spires’ conversion took the half time score to 24-0.
As the Droitwich players refused to listen to the referee in the tackle zone, Redditch skipper Aaron Atkinson took a quick tap and scampered 40 meters up the hill to touch down with the Droitwich defence breathing down his neck. This score was to prove decisive as Droitwich in their turn took full advantage of the slope. Tries came regularly even though the Kingfishers defence was resolute.
In the final minute Droitwich scored their fourth try to take the score to a nail-biting 29-28.
As the referee forced the kick off to take place Redditch defended frantically before turning the ball over and getting it safely into touch to hold on for the bonus point victory.
With 7 changes from last week’s losing team Redditch have shown good depth, and healthy competition for places will be evident in selection for next week’s home fixture against Stourport. Kick off will be 3:00pm.
For the second week in a row Redditch struggled against a big, strong opposition pack at scrum time.
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