BOUNCEBACKABILITY was the order of the day as Tenbury shook off their opening-day defeat at Greyhound to send St Leonards home on the end of a 33-12 scoreline in Midlands 5 West (North).

They took control after St Leonards had been gifted an early lead and new skipper Ed Gough admitted: “We looked disjointed at Greyhound but this was much better.

“We were much improved in open play, tackled well and were much more physical.”

Tenbury were on the back foot early on and they lost Fraser Young after three minutes with a facial injury. St Leonards opened the scoring on 28 minutes and it gave Tenbury the jolt they needed.

A chase by Claude Celton was well picked up by Craig Parkes to give Tenbury a try on 37 minutes and the industry of the home forwards caused their bigger opponents to tire, allowing Adam West to score under the posts. Celton’s two conversions helped open up a 14-5 interval lead.

Tenbury then turned the screw in the second half with tries from Greg Powell, West again and Dan Rawlings, with Celton kicking two more conversions.

Scrum-half Lawson Thomas shone for Tenbury, controlling the ball well in attack and also doing some superb work in defence.

l WILL Bache has agreed to stay on as captain of Cleobury Mortimer, despite a knee operation that looks set to sideline him until the New Year.

Promoted Cleobury are yet to start their league campaign with their opening two Midlands 3 West (North) games against Ludlow and Newcastle both called off.