Ledbury entertained the Elms School on Friday night on the 1st XV pitch under floodlights, hence joining the Ledbury elite for this rare treat.

LEDBURY U13S XV 7PTS, THE ELMS U13S XV 17PTS

A full-sized pitch allowed for plenty of free running and it was the visitors who applied the early pressure, camped in their hosts' 22 for the first ten minutes of the game. Spirited defensive tackling by Alex McGuffie and George Webster denied The Elms on several occasions, and strong forwards leadership by Charlie Smith, who had to be replaced at half-time due to a sprained thumb, managed to spoil two attempts at a pushover.

Eventually, however, the pressure became too much to bear, as Ledbury were stretched from one wing to the other and the Colwallians found a space in the corner to go 0-5 up.

A deep restart by Dan Allam sent the home forwards chasing; Fred Nottingham catching his opposite number in possession. The ensuing maul saw good gains by Jamie Wildman and Bradley Smith, however turnover ball saw the visitors superbly drilled backs run right back into the Ledbury half, with covering tackles from Tom West and Matt Bridger saving another score. Ledbury had defended well to go into the break only one score down.

The Elms stand-off restarted high and deep and a spilled catch allowed a turnover. With snappy running by the backs, the visitors were in again for 0-10. All credit to Ledbury, for just as it appeared the floodgates might open, Lawrence Edwards gathered a loose ball deep in his own half and beat five defenders with sheer pace to go in under the posts and put Ledbury right back in it at 7-10.

In the last moments of the game, and in spite of the best efforts of Alex Bain and JJ Draper playing the hooker role with aplomb, The Elms were to get the just reward of another score after excellent diagonal running to close the game out at 7-17.

Valiant in defeat, Ledbury were quick to appreciate their visitors' high skill levels, and only excellent defensive work by the homesters had delivered a respectable scoreline.