Bishop's Castle 9 pts Stourport 0

CASTLE booked their place in the second round of the Powergen Junior Vase but gave a far from convincing performance against their lower-graded visitors.

The home forwards immediately dominated possession and Castle quickly established themselves in Stourport territory.

However a series of poorly placed kicks and far too many handling errors negated any opportunities which came their way.

Unfortunately this was the pattern of the match with frequent handling errors from both sides and far too many stoppages for petty infringements.

Castle elected to run an early penalty from a very kickable position but once again it floundered through faulty handling.

There was hardly a passage of play worthy of mention as the scrappy half concluded with a blank scoreboard.

Coach Gavin Randall must have given his team a stern talking to during the break as it was a more purposeful Castle who came out for the second period.

A strong, driving maul took play close to the Stourport line and was only stopped when the visitors illegally pulled it down. Centre Matt-hew Willcock elected to kick for goal and Castle edged into the lead.

Both sides continued to struggle to put together any sustained passages of play as the disappointing game dragged on.

Willcock took advantage of further Stourport misdemeanours to land two more penalties as Castle ground out a win and clinched their place in the second round.