Local rivals Upton and Ledbury battled the elements to produce a hard fought game where the visitors eventaully prevailed.
Playing against the wind in the first half Upton produced probably their worst performance of the season which was littered with penalties, particularly in the first half. Ledbury had obviously come fired up for this game after their early season drubbing by Upton and were ferocious at the break down. Upton became isolated all too often and three out of 4 penalty kicks from Ledbury gave them a 9-0 lead.
Upton did have one chance in the first half. After a period of pressure on the Ledbury line Upton were awarded a penalty 5 metres out. Scrum half Brad Raymond took quickly and fed to Winger Alex Flower who decided to go it alone to the line but was held up.
Upton's half time chat revolved around forgetting the first half and using the elements to play in Ledbury's half and this they did however not before Ledbury extended their lead to 0-12 with another penalty.
Upton were dominant in the scrums and there were a lot of them due to the slippery and windy conditions and from one such scrum on the Ledbury five metre line Upton span the ball wide and a clever move let Left Winger Dan Aldersey speed through the middle to score. The try was not converted but with 20 minutes still remaining Upton knew they could turn this around. The game though was decided by a shocking referrring decision. Upton Fly half Dan Keyte spilled the ball just inside the Upton half and Ledbury hacked through. Keyte chased back and won the race for the ball to touch down. As the ball shot out from under his body Ledbury dived on it and the referee, who was watching an altercation on the floor some 25 metres away awarded Ledbury a try which was converted to make it 5-19. Keyte's protest to this try earned him 10 minutes in the bin.
Upton's heads were down but they continually piled forward. Again they should have scored when the pack drove the Ledbury eight well over their try line but the shuff was too quick and number 8 Matt Bookham failed to control the ball for an easy score. More and more scrums were awarded on the Ledbury line and after a succession of penalties Upton were awarded a penalty try which Rob Heeley quickly converted with a drop goal. 12-19. With only 2 minutes remaining Upton kicked down field and again were awarded a scrum five metres out but the ball came out too quick and Ledbury's defence managed to hack the ball out and the ref blew the final whistle.
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