Rugby Union
Slow start is costly for Eds

Buy photos » Edwardians’ man of the match Michael Bourke shrugs off a tackle on Saturday. (s)

Handsworth 35 Edwardians 25

Midlands Three West (North)

EDWARDIANS failed to recover from making a slow start at Handsworth on Saturday as they fell to defeat in muddy and difficult conditions.

Trailing 3-0 to an early penalty, Eds struggled in the opening stages with a converted try and a second penalty seeing them fall 13-0 behind.

Gradually finding their feet, Eds eventually answered with a score of their own with centre Luke Mason finding the try line after 20 minutes.

Minutes later it was full back Dan Johnson’s turn to further reduce the deficit to 13-10 but with both tries being scored in the corner, it meant difficult conversion attempts for Dave Gray, especially given the strong cross-wind he was competing with.

Not to be deterred, the home team quickly replied with a couple of tries of their own, extending the lead to 25-10.

At this point it was down to Edwardians coach John Corr to try and rally his team with some harsh but true words regarding the state of the game.

Immediately this seemed to have an effect on the visiting team as the made good solid progress down the hill towards the try line with a series of good moves linking forwards and backs.

This eventually led to full back Johnson managing to find the try line for his second try. With a successful conversion from fly half Gray, the lead was cut to 25-17.

The visitors, still spurred on by harsh words from the coach, managed to find themselves camped in the home team’s half for remainder of the half and that led to Gray slotting a further penalty to get them within five points as the half time whistle blew.

Unfortunately for the visitors, the second half started much the same way as the first as the hosts scored two more tries to open up a 35-20 lead.

Eds created several opportunities in an attempt to respond but were frequently stopped by a determined Handsworth defence.

However, captain and centre John Ferdinand did manage to use good field position and a powerful leg drive to force himself over the line in the dying minutes of the game.

Edwardians look forward to welcoming Handsworth to Streetsbrook Road in April for a chance to even the score but on Saturday will turn their attentions to a home game against Stourbridge Lions (2.15pm).

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