Old Leamingtonians 12 Old Laurentians 13: Old Leamingtonians gain bonus-point consolation

The game kicked off in sunshine with a strong wind favouring the visitors but it was Old Leamingtonians who applied the early pressure.

However, they were thwarted by long clearance kicks from the visiting stand-off which took play far back into their territory.

A penalty from just inside OLs’ half was then converted to give Old Laurentians the lead against the run of play.

The visitors began to exert more attacking pressure and winger Troy Owen came inside to score under the posts.

Undeterred, the hosts continued to pressure Old Laurentians, who were using the wind to good effect to clear their lines.

Eventually, the pressure paid off when, following a series of pick and drives, prop Craig Ellis gathered from the back of a driving maul to cross for a well-earned try.

The conversion was wide.

Just before the interval, O’Brien slotted over a penalty from the half-way line to give Old Laurentians a 13-5 interval lead.

The second half was evenly contested with both sides having opportunities only to be thwarted by good defensive play.

It needed a piece of magic from Liam Wellings to break the visitors’ resistance. Setting out from inside his own half the outside-centre outstripped the cover defence and broke a number of tackles before touching down for the only try of the half.

Tom Eales’ conversion reduced the deficit to a point.

The final 15 minutes saw chances for both sides but Old Leamingtonians had to settle for a losing bonus point

 Old Leamingtonians Ladies RFC extended their lead at the top of Midland Division One after beating hosts Wellingborough 37-12.

OLs started brightly, with flanker Jen Vermeulen crossing, closely followed by outside-centre Sam Smyth.

Number ten Yoli Sempere exploited gaps in the Wellingborough defence to score a third and shortly before half-time Tatiana Cutts opened her account for the club.

After the break, Wellingborough upped the intensity and two tries, one converted, brought it back to 20-12.

However, the away team responded with a first OLs try for Phoebe Howles.

Vermeulen then got her second, converted by Sarah Munday, before Liz Kennedy made a break to add the final try of the afternoon.

 Old Leamingtonians Under-16s edged out Birmingham & Solihull 15-12.

OLs had first use of a strong wind and opened up a 15-0 lead at the break courtesy of tries from Callum Dixon, Giandeep Bhamra and Nick Sapsford.

Despite having the elements in their favour, strong defence restricted Birmingham to two late touchdowns.