Ludlow lifted by a first win of season
Ludlow ran in five tries to secure their first win of the season at the eighth time of asking in Midlands One West.
The Shropshire side edged out Walsall 27-21 at home in a close game to snap a seven-game losing streak.
Dan Rawlings crashed over twice while Joe Doyle, Will Sparrow and Jack Lines also added a try each. Will Norton added a conversion.
Walsall pushed them hard though with Chris Mould, Alex Greenslade and Max Hughes all crossing the line for the visitors.
Ludlow also finished the match with 14 men when Russell Jones was sent off for killing the ball in a ruck.
But they held their nerve and club captain Tom Rawlings praised the team's resilience after a difficult start to the campaign.
He said: "Everyone pulled out a good performance. We haven't had the rub of the green in recent games but everyone dug in deep and we got a good result out of it.
"We were down to 13 men at one point because Daran Chard got sin-binned after we had lost Russell but we still scored a try. It was a really good team effort."
Ludlow did not escape the game unscathed though as Chard finished it nursing an ankle injury suffered in the 87th minute. The victory sees Ludlow remain in the relegation zone, albeit just four points from safety.
Their Midlands One neighbours Whitchurch also got back to winning ways after back-to-back losses against the top two sides Lichfield and Worcester with a 23-17 win at Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Danny Nicholas opened the scoring with an 18th-minute penalty and George Brereton extended the lead with a converted try seven minutes later.
Stratford hit back with a try of their own but Samuel Kendall finished a quick break to make it 15-7 at the break.
Nicholas added another penalty and Oliver Bates crossed over after the interval to give Whitchurch breathing space but two late tries from the hosts ensured a tense finale.
Club president John Gregory said: "It was a bit tense and it could have gone either way. They missed two quite simple penalties in the second half but we came through."
The game also saw the introduction of Colts flanker Jonathan Cope as a second-half substitute.
