RUGBY UNION: OLD Leamingtonians’ inconsistent start to their Midlands 3 West (South) campaign continued on Saturday with a home loss to Shipston on Stour.
Title chasing Shipston relegated OLs down to eighth in the 12-strong league with a series of second-half tries in blustery conditions.
OLs weren’t helped by the absence of half of their squad through injury and other commitments.
Despite the disruption, OLs restricted Shipston to a single long range penalty in the opening half as the home side ended the half with a narrow three point advantage.
But the second half told a different story.
Though OLs now had the wind behind them, they failed to reap any reward from the favourable conditions.
For the first 20 minutes of the second half, OLs were camped inside the Shipston 22.
Despite the forwards winning attacking balls, too many poor passes and handling errors saved Shipston from a number of tries that should have followed.
In the later stages of the game OLs were punished for the wasted opportunities and for not converting good periods of possession into points.
When OLs had a player sin binned, it was Shipston that demonstrated that quick ball and skilful handling could result in try scoring moves.
The visitors notched up two unconverted tries before a late try sealed the win.
Picture: Tim Nunan.
