It was a lovely morning at Mayo road and the sun definitely shone on Shipston! Playing on the first team pitch, with quite an army of supporters lifted everyone's spirits.

The boys started out against Old Coventrians. Within minutes of the kick off Joe Painter scored twice, the first of which was a wonderful try from the half way line. Ilyas quickly followed before Old Coventrians replied with one of their own. Shipston were definitely on top of the game and Sam Lewis and George McGinn then scored quality tries, before Old Coventrians saw the game off with one more. The final score was 25-10 to Shipston.

The U13s were dominant throughout and kept control of the game. They played well as a team, distributing the ball and supporting the attacking players. The only blot on the game was losing Ollie Bowers to a sprained thumb. We will him a speedy recovery - two weeks to tour!

Next Old Covs took on Stratford. It was a fairly static start, before Stratford started to dominate winning with a flurry of run away tries.

The last game was then between the two victors and a fierce local derby. The game started slowly, with the ball going back and forth between the two teams. Stratford were very strong at the breakdown, Shipston's distribution and pace made their attack difficult to defend. Some lovely footballing skills were in evidence, both Tommy Hatch and George Hendy finding holes in the Stratford defence with their kicking.

Alistair got the home team off the mark showing a fabulous turn of pace to cross the try line, Ilyas followed with a very well worked try again showing great strength and pace.

At half time Shipston were 10-0 up. The second half was dominated by Shipston, their confidence was booming and their self belief led to some lovely passages of play. Arlie ran in a very classy try, followed by Joe Painter's third of the afternoon. Joe has Matt Squance to thank for putting him in a great position and at close quarters he is incredibly difficult to stop. Ilyas scored two more leaving the final scoreline 30-0 to Shipston.

Shipston on Stour RFC

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