Cleobury meet their match as Castle rack up the points

CASTLE made it two wins from two starts with an emphatic victory over their North Midlands One local rivals Cleobury Mortimer.

Cleobury's pack met their match as their Castle opponents took them on and established immediate superiority to set a plentiful supply of quality ball.

After exerting early pressure the home pack won a lineout near the Cleobury line and drove their opponents off the ball to give scrum-half Mark Willis the chance to jink over for the opening unconverted try.

Castle kept up the pressure and backs and forwards combined to open up Cleobury's defence for fly-half Matthew Wilcock to cross under the posts, and then rather embarrassingly miss the simple conversion.

Number eight Bonesy Jones underlined the home pack's superiority when he picked up from the back of a five-metre scrum to drive over near the posts, Wilcock adding the extra points.

Cleobury rallied briefly and Kevin Shields landed two penalties to reduce the deficit, but Castle responded immediately with another catch and drive from a lineout to present Willis with a second try. Wilcock converted to give Castle a comfortable 18-point advantage at the break.

Castle continued where they had left off on the restart and skipper and prop Peter Edwards appeared on the wing to cross for a try and extend the home lead, Wilcock again obliging with the conversion.

Winger Gary Walters added a try and Willis completed his hat-trick, both converted by Wilcock, as Castle pressed on, with centre Pete Hughes touching down the try that took them to the half-century.

Castle relaxed and Cleobury brought some respectability to the final score when Luke Price and Hylton Smith scored tries, with Shields adding one conversion.