OLD Leamingtonians cemented their position at the top of the table with a convincing 33-3 win at Alcester.
However, for the first 15 minutes of the Midlands Three West (South) encounter, OLs failed to get going as Alcester dominated the early proceedings.
Solid defensive play prevented the home side from scoring a try but a lapse of discipline in front of the OLs posts gave Alcester the opportunity to get points on the board with a successful penalty kick.
This triggered OLs to raise their game and the visitors gradually took control, playing good open rugby which resulted in a flowing three-quarter move ending with Ciaran O’Connor touching down near the posts. Henry Reynolds kicked the conversion.
OLs continued to dominate and solid defence thwarted all of the heavy forward attempts by Alcester. Forward pressure by OLs midway into the Alcester half saw Felix Heath collect the ball and break through the defence to score under the posts.
The subsequent conversion gave OLs a 14-3 half-time lead.
The second half followed the same pattern with Alcester playing a forward-based game and seldom using their three-quarters, while OLs played an expansive 15-man game.
This paid off when Liam Wellings was fed the ball out wide on the right and outpaced the retreating Alcester defence to touch down try number three. Reynolds added the extras once more.
Alcester, now playing down the slope, came back into the game for a time and put pressure on the visitors but were continually unable to find a way through the solid OLs defence.
A penalty awarded to OLs saw the ball kicked into touch deep into the Alcester 22m area.
From the resulting lineout, the ball was thrown short and a solid forward drive allowed captain Reece Jones to claim the touch-down for try number four. The conversion was missed to leave the score 26-3.
With the game drawing to an end, the heavy Alcester forwards were put under great pressure by OLs and a series of rucks and mauls as well as good use of the three-quarters saw the home side pushed back towards their goal-line.
This allowed Pete Nancarrow to burst through and score try number five. Reynolds converted this time around to complete the scoring.
OLs, six points clear of second-placed Pinley having played one game extra, welcome Berkswell & Balsall to The Crofts on Saturday.
