Greyhound boost chances of beating the drop from Midlands Four West (North) by beating Warley

GREYHOUND gave their chances of avoiding the drop from Midlands Four West (North) a major boost by seeing off relegation rivals Warley at the Racecourse.

The city side have now moved level on points with Bromyard, who have a game in hand, on 27 points.

They are two points ahead of Warley, who have played a game more, while Tenbury, who have played the same number of games, are on 19 points.

"We knew that this was a must-win game and it was thanks to our groundsman Lew Braithwaite that the pitch was playable," said chairman Barry Morris.

Greyhound got away to a great start and, after pinning Warley back in their own 22, played in centre Elliot Phillips who went over for the first try with only two minutes played.

Fly-half Matt Swain added the extra points.

The remaining 78 minutes of the match were played in very windy and wet conditions but Greyhound were not deterred with hooker Cody Foster's try followed 15 minutes later by skipper Jamie Gibbons charging over.

Warley pulled back seven points before half-time and, with Greyhound's concentration waning, the visitors' attack powered through at the start of the second period.

Greyhound were shocked into action and, with their attack demonstrating their superiority, decided that keeping the ball in the forwards would be the best option.

The tactic paid off with George Gwynne powering through to score.

Ten minutes from the end, Greyhound put several phases of play together with Foster driving over for his second try.

As the clock ran down, second-row replacement Oli Paton finished off another attack to round off their third straight home win.

On Sunday, Greyhound's newly-formed ladies' touch-rugby team hosted a tournament against fellow county clubs Bromyard and Ross.

A good crowd turned out to see captain Carly Phillips lead her team to a creditable performance against established sides.

The scores were: Bromyard 4 Ross 0, Bromyard 3 Greyhound 0, Ross 2 Greyhound 0.

On March16, Greyhound Women are hosting an RFU Pitch Up and Play day when women can learn more about touch rugby, or the contact game, under instruction from RFU coaches. For details, contact Carly on carlyp@hotmail.com