Ludlow plan to spoil title party for champions-elect

The Linney men travel to Regional Two West Midlands champions-elect Old Halesonians on Saturday looking to delay their hosts’ celebrations.

Old Hales are 10 points clear of second-placed Walsall and will be keen to clinch the title in front of their own supporters, but they will come up against a rejuvenated Ludlow outfit who are still eyeing a top two finish.

Ludlow are two points behind Walsall, but have a game in hand, and they will go into the clash on the back of a five-game winning run. And they will also be seeking a spot of revenge having lost 22-21 to Old Hales earlier in the season.

That defeat came during a sticky spell for head coach Mikey Jones’ side but they have enjoyed an unbeaten start to 2023 and will travel to Old Hales, who have lost just twice all season, on the back of a 24-5 success away to Wolverhampton last weekend.

“We are going to hopefully spoil Old Halesonians’ party this weekend,” said Jones. “The lads won’t need any extra motivation for this game. We lost by a point to them earlier in the season when we had our dip in form and the lads know that they let themselves down during that period. They are obviously a decent side because they are 10 points clear at the top and unbeaten in a long time. We obviously respect then but we don’t fear them.

“We have had some good results at Old Halesonians in recent years and hopefully we can add to those on Saturday.”

Jones was relatively pleased with his side’s display in last Saturday’s success at Wolverhampton.

Rhys Perkins, James Mear and Matt Ashley all touchdown for tries with a penalty try and two conversions from Jack Lines completing the scoring.

“It’s always a hard place to go. It’s always a dogfight up there and, as expected, it wasn’t an easy game,” added Jones.

“They scored first following some errors from us and we weren’t at our best during the first half but went in 12-5 up. We controlled the game in the second half. We had a lot more dominance in the scrum and played in the right areas.

“It wasn’t our best performance but if you can score four tries when you are not playing as well as you can, then I think that shows that you are not a bad side.”

After Saturday’s clash, Ludlow finish the season with home games against Stratford and Evesham.

Elsewhere in the division, Whitchurch were 67-10 victors over Malvern.