RUGBY UNION

TWO tries from fly-half Mark Williams rubber-stamped a successful pre-season warm-up for Ludlow at Newtown last weekend.

Williams, having set up the first try for Jonny Pudge with a deft chip ahead, went over the Newtown line twice in the second half as the Linneymen ran out 24-12 winners in baking hot conditions.

Ludlow, who travel to Evesham in the preliminary round of North Midlands Shield this weekend, gave debuts to Matt Price and George Sankey and were encouraged by a performance full of slick, attacking rugby.

Will Norton converted all three tries and kicked a penalty as Ludlow came from 12-10 down to claim victory.

Church Stretton also won in the scorching sun with a 21-12 verdict over Oswestry in a match of four quarters.

The Samurai fielded an inexperienced side, with several colts players making their senior debuts. Flanker Harry Humphries and fly-half Marcus Bedson particularly impressed, with both playing the full 80 minutes.

Bedson helped Jake Heiron set up centre Stu Brown to gallop over on his debut, with captain Tom Chard adding the extras.

Stretton continued their momentum into the second quarter and were soon able to double their lead when the ball was worked to winger Jack Titley to cut inside the defence and slide in for a try. Chard again added the extras for a 14-0 lead.

Oswestry halved the deficit with the last play of the half but Stretton made several changes at half-time, with Jack Jones deputising ably at scrum-half and club president Pete Lawton coming on into the front row. An injury to Heiron also saw Chard fill in at inside centre.

With all the changes, the third quarter was a little disjointed but the final quarter was a much more exciting affair as tiredness set in. The Samurai’s offloading game came to the fore as they constantly launched dangerous attacks without finishing them off.

New scrum-half Kieran Pinches looked lively but the pressure finally told as Ward got the try he deserved. Pinches added the extras to make the Samurai's lead more comfortable, though Oswestry then grabbed a late consolation try.

Bishop’s Castle, playing on their new ground but with a depleted squad, were beaten 35-5 by Welshpool.

It looked ominous from the outset when Welshpool arrived with around 30 players, having already fulfilled two pre-season fixtures.

This game was also played over four quarters and though Welshpool dominated the early exchanges, and took the lead, a try from fly-half Henry Wilson rallied Castle.

But the heat began to tell and the Welsh raiders ran in three more tries.

However Castle had impressive performers in Gary Hockey, Ben Gutteridge, Toby Stokes and James Turner.

Tenbury kick off their competitive season with a North Midlands Vase preliminary round tie with Dudley Wasps this Saturday. Last weekend they were beaten 32-5 by Clee Hill in a training match at Palmer's Meadow, with Claude Selton accounting for their points from a try. Clee Hill bagged six tries from Josh Bailey, Sam Home, Charlie Evans, Dan Romeo, Robert Fletcher and Sam Link with Dan Matthews kicking a conversion.