Upton's ventured back into Warwickshire to visit Keresley, a club who have experienced rugby at a far higher level. After the quagmire pitch of last week, Upton found a good dry pitch inviting some open rugby. When Keresley visited Upton in October Upton had to stage a strong comeback to win in the final stages and so the stage was set as Keresley were desperate for revenge and a win to keep to keep up their promotion hopes.
For the first quarter of the match both sides were sizing up each other with play moving between the respective 22metres lines with forward drives, pacey back moves and long probing kicks into the opposition's territory and strong tackling. After 20mins Keresley passed the ball out to their left winger who proceeded to cut back inside and a mis-tackle caused by this change of attack was enough for the first points to credited to Keresley with a converted try
That score lifted Keresley and within 3mins they had scored another try following a driving maul
Upton dug deep and gained ground with a forward drive before releasing their backs and Matt Jeffreys was in position to run in the final 20 metres and score his maiden league try wide out
An Upton disaster at the restart of the second half saw Keresley gather the ball and run in an uncoverted try from the halfway line
Upton kept their cool and soaked up the pressure and gradually worked their way back into the opposition 22 and when Keresley used their hands illegally in a ruck Mike Dodge stepped up to convert the penalty
Tempers became frayed when a stamping occurred on an Upton player and dismay followed when Keresley were awarded a penalty for the illegal play. The penalty in front of the posts was duly converted
On 60mins Upton had two players 'binned' and Keresley went for the jugular when they moved the ball wide and scored an unconverted try when Upton ran out cover
Despite only having 13 players on the pitch at this time Upton decided now was the time to hit back and prop Russell Price claimed the try as he ran in untouched under the post following a set penalty move from 10metres out. Dodge duly converted
With 13mins of normal time left, Upton were back to full strength and took up the attack again. A series of drives and speedy back movements saw territory being gained and from a catch and drive from a lineout on the Keresley 5metres line, Price emerged with the ball to claim another try
Keresley were crumbing and no doubt their minds started to race back to October again when they were leading with minutes left. With injury time now running, a poor Keresley cross field kick was gathered by that man Price on the half way line and he went on a charge and made 20 metres down the left side. The forwards re-cycled the ball and the backs spun the ball wide to the right and when Rob Heeley got the ball 15metres from the right touch he 'showed' the ball, Keresley bought the dummy and Heeley ran the final 15metres to the cross the line to score the try that levelled the scores. The heat was now on young Mike Dodge who proved that 'if you good enough you are old enough' as he kept his cool despite the wailing 'banshee' charge from some of the Keresley players to convert and win the game for Upton
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