RUGBY UNION: OLD Leamingtonians had to settle for a losing point away at Upton-upon-Severn after spending almost half of the match with 14 men, reports Den Fisher.
OLs went down 23-17 at Old Street in what was an entertaining Midlands 3 West (South) encounter.
Upton scored after ten minutes with a penalty from their first visit inside the OLs half and soon after Bill Johnson was shown a yellow card for not rolling away from a tackle.
From the ensuing penalty Upton charged forward to the goal line and the match official awarded the hosts a penalty try for an infringement which was converted.
This spurred the OLs into another period of dominant play and from a series of well controlled mauls, OLs forced the ball over home goal line when second row Joe Tallamini touched down.
The next score came from Upton with an unconverted try after the match official had yellow carded Joe Tallamini.
The second half saw OLs come more into the game and the OLs forwards produced two well taken tries, the first from hooker Reece Jones and the second from super sub prop Craig Ellis, both scored from driving mauls. The second of these tries was converted, to move OLs into a two point advantage.
With five minutes to go it appeared that OLs would hold out but another bizarre refereeing decision saw OLs prop Craig Ellis yellow carded for swearing despite the Upton prop telling the match official that Ellis was swearing at him.
From the penalty Upton moved into a one point lead. From the restart the home side moved back into the visitors’ 22 with OLs pack disrupted by the loss of Ellis. The last move of the game saw the home side cross for an unconverted blind side try.
This weekend OLs have a rest day before they return to action at home against Bedworth on March 5.
