BISHOP’S Castle's cocktail of young guns and old heads conjured up a potent performance in the first round of the Midlands Junior Vase.

Their exciting blend gelled together perfectly to power to a runaway 52-3 victory over visiting Greyhound.

Captain Gareth Jones, watching from the sidelines due to injury, beamed: “The guys played really well and the best thing is that we had six or seven players missing through injury or unavailability.

“Our bench was strong and this will give the guys a lot of confidence as to what they can actually achieve this season. We have got a second team up and running and the interest from the town is fantastic.

“The World Cup has raised the profile of the sport and we are making the most of it. For a rural town we are punching well above our weight.”

With a strong scrum to work from, No.8 Phil Oliver helped himself to a hat-trick of tries, with centre Justyn Haycocks also picking off a treble, prop Richard Jones collecting a brace and Haycocks kicking six conversions for a personal haul of 27 points.

There was a great debut for winger Scott Corfield, and Dan Lewis, and second-team scrum-half Chris Irving also had an impressive game.

Jake Heiron suffered a serious knee injury as Church Stretton, last season’s losing finalists, bowed out of the Vase on the wrong end of a 27-20 scoreline at Essington.

Stretton, featuring several new faces and combinations, made a slow start and Essington took the lead with an unconverted try. But Stretton grew into the game and equalised when a loose pass was intercepted and scrum-half Roan Kirby put a grubber through for veteran Pete Lawton to dive on.

Essington scored another unconverted try before the injury to Heiron dealt the Samurai a hammer blow. A penalty for Essington and another try, this time converted, gave them a 15-point lead.

However Stretton didn't roll over. A try from powerful back rower Regan Jordan cut the deficit when he touched down from the back of a five-metre scrum, following a strong run from centre Jack Titley. Full-back Tim Downes converted to leave the half-time score at 20-12.

Stretton started the second half strongly, with Jack Jones and Ben Fairgrieve both making an impact off the bench, and the Samurai's powerful runners started to come to the fore, orchestrated by the lively Kirby. They spent large periods in the Essington half, but only came away with a penalty from Downes as they squandered a couple of try-scoring opportunities.

Another injury to winger Dan Steele led to a further reshuffle before winger Dom Bradburne had a try disallowed for a forward pass after a break from the ever-threatening Marcus Bedson.

Essington then scored another try but Stretton still didn't give up and scored the try of the game when Kirby took a quick tap penalty on his own five-metre line, setting off a scintillating break and a powerful run from Sam Hill was finished off by Jordan dotting down again.