Upton continued their post Christmas winning streak with a hard fought victory over East Warwickshire outfit Southam.

Having lost to them at home in early season but then subsequently having the points awarded to Upton after Southam failed to provide sufficient front row cover the visitors were aware that Southam would be confident and up for revenge. In front of a big Vice Presidents day crowd Upton tried to take the game to Southam but were quickly repelled by strong running and a highly competitive nature at the breakdown. However the referee soon realised that Southam's tacklers were lazy at the breakdown and awarded a penalty for not rolling away which Chris O'Neil slotted over for 0-3.

Upton's talk in the changing room had been about strong defence but the visitors did not apply enough pressure and the home side were able to make many yards every time they had the ball. Things were not helped when openside Adam Heath went off early with a rib injury to replaced by Lorcan Lynch. Southam were awarded a penalty which the converted to make the score 3-3. Then against the run of play Upton struck. On Half way Scrum half Brad Raymond darted and from the subsequent ruck Rob Heeley fired out a quick pass to the backs. Slick handling allowed left winger Dan Aldersey to shoot down the line before popping back inside to O'Neil for a converted try 3-10.

Playing with the strong wind Upton kicked downfield and soon had another score. After a 22 drop out went out on the full Upton had a scrum centre field. The entire back division went blind to open which drew the defence and allowed Raymond and Number 8 Matt Bookham to go blind. Raymond popped early and Bookham showed tremendous pace to out sprint the entire Southam back row to score in the corner. O'Neil missed the conversion and another penalty to further stretch Upton's lead.

Upton's continued deficiencies in defence allowed Southam to rumble up field and from an inside break from their fly half the scrum half was on hand to drop over the line. The try was converted to make the half time scores 10-15.

Playing into the wind in the second half Upton knew they had to keep the ball tight.

Southam started brightly and looked dangerous out wide but took the option after a couple of phases to take a drop goal 13-15.

The rest of the half was all Upton though as the forwards carried and managed the breakdown to stifle any opportunities the home side tried to muster. As the home side continued to infringe at the breakdown Upton clawed their way down field and soon O'Neil was in range to slot a second penalty, 13-18.

Despite not playing with their normal fluency Upton played the game as simply as possible and the last 10 minutes saw the home side's confidence ebb away. As Upton put together a number of phases they almost scored as Oli Jones fired a quick pass out of a ruck only to be judged forward. However from the resultant scrum loose head Sean Lancett got the nudge on his opposite tight head. This meant the home scrum half was under pressure and Brad Raymond stole the ball off him and reached over for a third score which was un converted to make the final score 13-23.

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