Ludlow target more home joy

The Linney men welcome third-placed Stow-on-the-Wold looking to follow up their impressive victory over Silhillians, who sit second, last weekend.

Toby Morgan, Arthur Nias, Jack Lines and Ben Black alls scored tries, and Lines added three conversions and two penalties to secure an impressive 32-15 triumph.

“It was one of our best displays of the season,” said head coach Mikey Jones. “We played really, really well. We dominated them in the scrum, lineout, contact and attacking areas. And we made the right choices.

“They took an early lead and looked strong in the opening five minutes but then we got back in the game and took control.

“The aggression the boys showed was what probably pleased me most.

“We went down to 13 players briefly and played a while with 14. But we are conditioned to play with 14, we do a lot of work in training playing with a man down.

“We didn’t let them get back in the game and saw them off.”

Jones will be forced into some changes this week but is confident his side can still get the job done.

“Stow are third and had a good win against Cheltenham last week so it will be another big test,” said Jones. “We have a few players injured and unavailable so we won’t be a strong as last weekend, but we will still have enough good players to turn it on.”

Meanwhile, Bridgnorth will have a score to settle when they head to Stoke in rugby’s Regional 1 Midlands on Saturday.

The All Blacks suffered a costly defeat in the Potteries during their push for title glory last season, going down 45-40 in a thrilling clash.

Bridgnorth won their final three games after the Stoke clash, but finished three points behind champions Dudley Kingswinford.

“Our defeat at Stoke towards the end of last season cost us in terms of going up,” said coach Bryan Smallman. “And we are expecting another tough game.

“They play a really fluid, fast, expansive game and move the ball around really well.

“We will have to play well to win but hopefully we can do that and get that result last season off our backs.”

Bridgnorth will make the trip on the back of a 25-5 victory at home to Old Halesonians last Saturday.

George Newman, Luis Evitt, Connor Nicholls and James Barham scored tries, while Will Bishop added a penalty and conversion as the hosts won after being reduced to 14 men in the second half.

“It wasn’t an easy game, to be fair,” said Smallman. “We were 10-5 up at half-time and there wasn’t a lot in it.

“We were reduced to 14 players following a red card, but when we went down to 14 the structure to our game was much better and we need to build on that going forward.

“They had a lot of possession but we stuck to the task and then scored two late tries to pick up the bonus points as well, which was very pleasing.”