OLD Leamingtonians remain firmly in the hunt for promotion from Midlands Three West (South) with a resounding 74-14 victory over Ledbury.
Ledbury kicked the game off and within two minutes the visitors found themselves a try down without touching the ball again.
The OLs forwards gained good ground and the ball was passed out quickly along the line for right wing Liam Wellings to touch down wide out.
The conversion was missed.
With the game less than ten minutes OLs had crossed the Ledbury goal line twice more.
Firstly through left wing Ryan Dee after another swift three-quarter line move and then another sweeping move allowed centre Simon Hemming to burst through the Ledbury defence for try number three.
Both were converted by Henry Reynolds to put OLs 19-0 up.
The game evened out in midfield for a time but then a forward drive by OLs saw the game driven well into the Ledbury 22m area for captain and hooker Reece Jones to force his way over for try number four.
Stand-off Henry Reynolds completed the conversion to move OLs into a 26-point lead after 22 minutes of play.
On the half hour mark further OLs attacking play saw second row Pete Nancarrow register try number five which went unconverted and try number six quickly followed when full back Ciaran O’Connor came into the line to drift through the Ledbury defence to touch down between the posts.
Reynolds completed the conversion.
The last ten minutes of the first half saw Ledbury come back into game and a strong period of play saw the visitors record the first of two converted tries, the second of which quickly followed when OLs expecting a knock on decision from the match official simply stood by while Ledbury played on and touched down.
Half time was reached with OLs having a comfortable lead of 38-14.
All credit to the Ledbury fifteen who came back strongly and forced OLs onto the defensive for the first ten minutes of the half but it was only a matter of time before the speedy three-quarters of OLs began to dominate play again.
With the pack getting the better of Ledbury and scrum half Toby Lord having a field day at the back of the scum and providing his three-quarters with quick ball the Ledbury defence simply could not cope.
Ciaran O’Connor, again coming in on the end of the line, touched down try number seven and left winger Ryan Dee then provided the extra man in the OLs backs to rip through Ledbury’s defence for try number eight.
The next few minutes was spent with the OLs forwards dominating and the next two tries came from forward drives well into the Ledbury 22 metre area.
Firstly prop Harris Priest touched down and then scrum half Toby Lord added try number ten.
The last five minutes of play saw two further tries for OLs scored by right wing Liam Wellings.
Both were the result of flowing three-quarter moves with Wellings scoring try number eleven wide out on the right and try number twelve when he provided the extra man overlap on the left wing.
Four more conversions brought the score to 74 – 14.
