IT was a case of so near yet so far for Church Stretton as they failed in a bold bid to add the North Midlands Vase Plate to their Midlands 5 West (North) title.

The Samurai ended a memorable first season of competitive rugby with the cruellest of defeats at Dudley Kingswinford last Sunday, succumbing in a goal-kicking shoot-out after a 12-12 deadlock with Redditch.

The teams were preparing for extra time when they were informed a kicking contest would take place.

Man of the match Roan Kirkby, an Under-19 player making his senior debut, stepped up for Stretton, but the wind took his effort just wide and the Redditch full-back held his nerve to slot over the winning kick.

Stretton lost Regan Jordan to injury in the first minute and Redditch, boosted by a large vocal following, stormed ahead with an unconverted try.

But Stretton quickly responded.

First Kirkby took a quick penalty, spreading it back to Tom Ward, via hooker Tom Chard, to score in the corner. The try was unconverted.

Then Jack Titley stole a Redditch line-out and the ball was moved wide to Ward. He burst through and was certain to score when hauled down by his neck, leaving the referee no choice but to award a penalty try.

Kirkby added the conversion.

Stretton had the wind to their advantage in the second half but Redditch used their rolling maul to good effect.

When the Samurai strayed offside from a ruck, Ward was sin-binned in a case of mistaken identity.

Redditch then scored when their No.8 offloaded to his support for a converted try to level and set up a dramatic sudden-death decider.