WITH the first and third XVs playing away, it was left to the seconds to entertain the home crowd.

Ledbury II 68pts, EARLSDON II 24pts

They certainly did in the first half, putting together some of the slickest handling skills seen at Ross Road this season.

The Ledbury backs comprised of possibly the heaviest group of players to represent the club; Will Delamore returning after an enforced break of five weeks was made to look quite normal next to Dave Pickering.

From the kick-off Ledbury began at a frantic pace, which the visitors had no answer to, quick ball was seized upon by the backs with relish, and fly-half Delamore made several incisive breaks into the visitors defence, before releasing the backs. Tara Barnett was particularly evident in the first 20 minutes, bagging a brace of tries through good support work.

Dave Pickering made sev-eral bullocking breaks and proved to be a major problem for Earlsdon, who had difficulty in containing him.

Winger Bowlock was put clear on several occasions, and should have scored a hat-trick but suffered the ignominy of being tackled just short of the line by an Earlsdon prop.

The only area where Ledbury had problems was the lineout, where they were only capable of winning about 50 per cent of their own throw-ins, but elsewhere the back row of Martin Williams, Greg Powell and Russell Price made life impossible for the visitors. By half time Ledbury had amassed a total of eight tries, and three conversions, with only a penalty in reply.

The second half saw Ledbury begin well, with Delamore scoring two wonderful solo tries followed by a kick and chase try for Butler.

Whether they had burnt themselves out, or the half time substitutions had weakened the side, or even John Keetch's transfer to the opposition, it was apparent that Ledbury went to sleep for the rest of the game, Earlsdon scoring three tries.

Tomorrow (Saturday) the seconds are due for another home game against Old Crytians.