Upton-upon-Severn 18, Woodrush 7.

LEADERS Upton-upon-Severn returned to action in Midlands Three West (South), a week after their clash with Southam was cancelled 10 minutes before kick-off due to a frozen pitch.

However, despite a week off, normal service was resumed as they registered their ninth straight league win to maintain their 100 per cent record in all competitions.

From the kick-off, Woodrush tried to keep the game tight but Upton’s defence was solid.

Once they weathered the initial control of Woodrush, Upton upped their game.

Number eight Jamie Anderson took the ball on with power and was ably assisted by man-of-the-match Luke Boulton and then fellow back-rower Oli Jones.

Upton took the lead after being inside the Woodrush 22-metre line for 10 minutes.

Eventually, from a good line-out by Chris Thomas, the ball was driven up by Anderson. From the resultant ruck, fly-half Matthew Cock drew the defence before unloading to Dan Aldersey and the flying winger scythed through the gap to score. Chris O’Neil converted to make it 7-0.

Upton continued to control the first-half and O’Neil extended their lead with a penalty to make it 10-0 at half-time.

James Hynes had replaced Anderson just before the break with a suspected broken hand but this did nothing to Upton’s game.

Their controlled scrum, led by the front row of Adam Jones, Liam Moloney and Rob Heeley, gave Hynes plenty of opportunity to pick-and-go from the base. This gave Upton the chance to control the game for lengthy periods.

Their second try came again after a sustained period of pressure in the Woodrush 22.

After Cock and Hynes had been held up over the line, Woodrush had a five-metre scrum.

But the Upton number eight drove them backwards and, as the ball popped out the back of the scrum, open-side Oli Jones pounced to make it 15-0.

O’Neil kicked his second penalty of the day shortly afterwards to push the score to 18-0 with 10 minutes to go.

However, the sin-binning of him and Moloney left Upton struggling for the last few minutes.

Despite determined defence from Andrew Burns and Guy Field, in particular, Woodrush managed to slip through a tackle and score a converted try.