Having suffered defeats at the hands of Stourport and Malvern before Christmas, Upton were keen to return to their winning ways. In the first few minutes of the game the seven week break was showing as Pershore attacked and Upton seemed unable to gain their composure. However this was short lived as the Upton defence wrestled for the ball and forced Pershore to concede a penalty in front of their posts.
The pressure was never taken off with the Upton backs, including some new faces, forcing Pershore to make try saving tackles throughout the first half. However it was in vain as full back Tom Seymour crashed over the line for Upton's first try. The Upton forwards then applied their own dominance with second row Simon Harper picking up a try following smooth passages of play. Pershore were dominant in the scrum however and managed to wrestle the ball from Upton on a number of occasions.
At half time a chance to settle nerves and bring on some fresh legs was taken. Ed Haynes was brought on but was soon taken off with a shoulder injury. However this brought on Paul Williams into the second row position. He was soon showing his special talent by attacking route one. This gave the Upton team the encouragement they needed as Charlie Abbey went on a well angled run to crash over for another Upton try. Seymour also added another try to his total and swiftly converted it.
Upton had soon forced their way back into the Pershore half. A quick penalty by Adam Staite pushed the Upton pack closer to the Pershore line before prop David Hunt used a burst of pace to hurtle through several tackles before grounding the ball under the posts.
From the kick off the ball was punted straight to Hunt who managed some outrageous dummies and shimmying runs before offloading to the Upton backs. This allowed Upton to sneak their way towards the Pershore posts where Upton's 8, Seb Woodward drove forwards to gain Upton's sixth try of the game which centre Gaz Price converted. Upton finished the game with a convincing 39-0 victory.
The Walnut Whip man of the match goes to Charlie Abbey for his efforts around the park, tackling and strength in the pack.
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