League rugby was secondary on this bleak winter’s day at “Moorefields”, as both Leamington RFC and Evesham RFC, paid tribute to former Evesham winger, Jack Jeffrey, who died last year. Teams, Officials and Club members, joined in a minute’s applause for the young player, who passed away in tragic circumstances, playing the game he loved.

The Worcestershire side have been on a very good run of form recently and proved to be stubborn opponents, finally claiming victory by 33 points to Leamington’s 17.

In bitterly cold conditions, Leamington opened the scoring on 15 minutes, with a superb try. Centre, Garrett Bell, fielded a high clearance kick, deep in his own 22 metre area, and set off on a sprint upfield. His electrifying turn of pace, completely stunned the Evesham defence and as he entered the opposition half, he sent over a deft chip, which fellow Centre, Rich McKowen, gathered and raced in to score.

This promising start was short-lived, however, as the visitors hit back immediately with an unconverted score of their own, to draw level.

Despite this setback, Leamington continued to play some attractive, high tempo, attacking rugby. In one attack, Prop, Louis Dunbavin caused mayhem, with a charge down, that almost brought reward and then Gareth Shuttleworth sent over a clever kick to the corner, which had the Evesham defence in trouble. With this impetus in attack, Leamington went ahead with another unconverted try. Full Back, Brad James, found touch with a penalty kick and from this prominent position, Leamington retained possession and fed the ball across the park to winger, Kofi Miller, who raced in at the corner.

Disappointingly for Leamington, they were unable to further capitalise on this advantage and quickly lost the lead to a converted score. Evesham then kicked a penalty goal to increase their lead and on half time, hit the hosts with another converted try.

Half Time: 10 – 22

The Evesham attack proved very effective in the second period. Not necessarily for their scoring prowess, more for their ability to keep Leamington penned in their own half for long passages of play.

However, their momentum was upset with some smart play from the hosts, setting up a converted score to add spice to the game. Nathan Batchelor got possession in the middle of the park and set Bell away. The Centre had Ed Gray and Brad James in support, before the ball was sent out to winger, Conor Chamberlain, whose mesmeric run saw him race in for the try. James quickly added the extras.

With one score the difference, Evesham were able to finally close the game down with two penalty goals and a final, bonus point try, scored on the final whistle.

Full Time: 17 – 33