TENBURY’S hopes of chalking up a first double of the season in Midlands 5 West (North) floundered at St Leonards.

The minibus journey to Stafford left Tenbury with some stiff limbs and the hosts punished them with two tries in the first eight minutes to lay the foundations for a comfortable 34-0 victory.

Tenbury found themselves 24-0 down at half-time, though they did rally towards the break after losing Ben Spires and replacing him with Ricky Evans.

The first 20 minutes of the second half saw Tenbury produce a better cohesive effort, using the slope to make some penetrating runs, but a slack pass or fumble against some tight defence meant they were unable to breach the home line.

Two more home tries stretched the lead to 34-0 before Tenbury defended stoutly in the final quarter, also conjuring up some impressive attacking but again failing to reap the rewards.

Charlie Greig and Craig Curtis performed well in the front row with Greg Powell, Ed Bedhall and Jon Hitchings tackling and making several carries to set up the threes. The threes improved in the second period and deserved great credit for keeping going right to the final whistle.