Harborne 22 pts Tenbury 27 pts (played at Tenbury)

TENBURY skipper Pete Stevens hasn’t ruled out an approach for Dave Irish after signing three players from Ludlow Rugby Club.

Brothers Tom and Dan Rawlings and second-row Russell Jones have put pen to paper and will be boosting Tenbury’s fight to avoid the drop.

Irish, a former Tenbury player-coach, resigned as the head coach of Ludlow after some players disagreed with his training methods.

A delighted Stevens said: “I have gone into the transfer market and signed three big players from Ludlow.

“I have not ruled out a move for Dave Irish at some point out but we have Wayne Bridges and John Webb who are doing a great job on the sidelines for us.”

Tenbury remain second-bottom in Midlands Four West (North) but have closed the gap on their relegation rivals after a stunning win over table-topping Harborne last Saturday.

Tenbury are just one point behind Warley and three adrift behind Greyhound after inflicting a second loss on Harborne in 14 matches.

Stevens’ side were sweating at the end, after Harborne bagged two late converted tries, but he was thrilled at the final whistle.

The re-arranged match had been switched to Palmer’s Meadow because Harborne were not able to play at their own ground.

Stevens said: “It was a massive win for Tenbury and we have home matches to look forward to now against St Leonards, Warley and Bromyard.

“Our forwards were absolutely immense. Rob Yeomans and I were propping, with Rob Phillips hooking, and Harborne did not push us back at all.

“Everybody at Tenbury is buzzing at the moment. We have added to our squad with the former Ludlow players and we have got five league games left.”

Tenbury played downhill with the wind in their favour in the first half of last Saturday’s crucial match.

“Grant Duff came back from Cardiff to play and he had to work after the game so he went straight back,” said Stevens.

“Will Gough and Chuck Parry were also outstanding. Our pack was absolutely magnificent and their backs were very good.”

Callum Spires opened Tenbury’s try-scoring account, after excellent work between centres Andy Black and Luke Brittain.

Ben King missed the conversion but Tenbury soon added a second try, Duffy touching down and Gough slotting the extras.

Gough crossed for Tenbury’s third try and added the conversion before kicking a penalty to give the hosts a commanding half-time advantage.

After the interval, Tenbury continued to impress and Parry crashed over after superb work by the forwards.

But Harborne hit back and scored two converted tries to cut the deficit to 27-22 with just eight minutes remaining.

Stevens said: “We were confident going into the last few minutes that we could hang on but we were delighted to hear the final whistle at the end.

“We were very tired at the finish but it was our best win of the season and our efforts were worth it.”