Shrewsbury's proud run ends in rumpus

Shrewsbury's 100 per cent record came to a crashing end in a fiery top-of-the-table clash against Willenhall that finished in a mass brawl.

Four yellow cards were dished out as the Sundorne Castle men lost 14-6 in Wolverhampton.

Two of those bookings went to Shrewsbury - the first correctly to Darren Griffiths for fisticuffs, but the second in more bizarre circumstances.

A second yellow card for a Willenhall player late on saw him heading for an early bath but the referee failed to identify which Shrewsbury player was involved.

Struggling for answers, the referee asked skipper Paul Bolland to volunteer to accept the sin-bin, to which he duly obliged.

"We were let down by some bizarre refereeing, I've never seen anything like it," said Shrewsbury fly-half Mattie Morris.That was a sour end to a disappointing match in which previously unbeaten Shrewsbury failed to find top gear.

Willenhall had the lead early on when a fortunate charge down on a Bolland kick allowed them over the line.

Tensions started to boil over and both sides were reduced to 14 as punches flew, Griffiths the culprit for the visitors.

Shrewsbury composed themselves and two Morris penalties put them 6-5 ahead at the break.

But Shrewsbury's performance in the second 40 lacked the verve of previous weeks and three Willenhall kicks decided the outcome.

Shrewsbury were not helped by the loss of the experienced Morris with a fractured cheekbone that will keep him out until the New Year.

He added: "We were on top in the first half and were looking to go on and win, but we just didn't do ourselves justice in the second half.

"You can see why they're top - they're very well organised and quite slick - but I think we'll definitely beat them at home so this season is far from over as they could easily slip up."

Shrewsbury must bounce back and quickly against third place Burntwood on Saturday.

Bishop's Castle suffered a torrid afternoon at Tamworth, going down 67-0 with the bare 15 on the pitch.

Castle spent the entire game defending and did well to keep the score to 20 -0 at half time.

Tamworth worked through the gears after the turnaround and comfortably added another 47 points.

And things weren't much better for bottom boys Cleobury Mortimer as they were battered 48-0 at Veseyans.

Cleobury matched their opponents in the scrum but paid the price for a string of handling errors.