Stourbridge win on the road to maintain perfect start to season

Stourbridge are one of four three sides with a perfect record at the top of Regional One Midlands after two games of the new rugby union season.

Stour hit the road on Saturday, backing up their narrow opening-day victory over Bromsgrove by triumphing 34-24 in another tight clash at Burton.

Michael Heaney came to the fore as he scored two of Stour’s three first-half tries, with Michael Penn getting the other as the visitors led 19-14 at the interval.

They extended that advantage with two tries after half-time - the first by Rudi Salisbury securing the bonus point - but Burton threatened a late fightback until Heaney nailed a penalty with 10 minutes to play to take his personal points tally to 19.

Meanwhile, Lichfield picked up their first Regional One Midlands victory of the season by overcoming Oxford Harlequins 44-21.

They were helped on their way by two first-half penalty tries, while Freddie Wilson, Ben Bourne, Jack Hurst all crossed the whitewash before the interval to give them a 38-7 lead.

Oxford fought back after half-time, with two converted tries, before Charles Milner eased any nerves with two late penalties.

Walsall maintained their excellent start to the season with a 60-40 triumph at Paviors - scoring their first try after just 30 seconds on their way to a 40-7 half-time advantage.

The hosts rallied after the break, but Walsall kept them at arm’s length to make it two wins from two in Regional Two Midlands North.

Dan Carpenter, Callum Hoy and Rhys Gaddu each scored two tries each, while George Hill and Corbon Clarke-Selby also touched down. Adam Nunney added 20 points with the boot.

Dudley Kingswinford also have two wins from two in their bid to bounce straight back up from Regional Two Midlands West after winning 33-26 at Kenilworth.

Burntwood edged out Newport (Salop) II 22-19 in Counties One Midlands West (North), while Old Halesonians also picked up their first win of the season - 50-14 over Spartans (Midlands).

But Stourbridge Lions lost 42-15 at home to Veseyans and Willenhall were trounced 87-10 by early leaders Shrewsbury.

Kidderminster lead the way in Counties Two Midlands West (West) after beating Wolverhampton 37-7 thanks to tries from David Kane (two), Ryan Tiene (two) and Harry Lees. Aston Parkin rpelied for Wolverhampton.

Stafford stormed to a 57-28 victory over Luctonians III with a second-half surge, thanks to a hat-trick of tries from Rob Jones, two from Spencer Latham and one each from Cristian Ureche, Nathan Caucau and Dan Watts.

In Counties Three Midlands West (North), Stone beat Newcastle (Staffs) II 31-17, while in Counties Three Midlands West (South) there were wins for Warley and Walsall II.

Burntwood II and Willenhall II were winners in Counties Four Midlands West (Central), Cannock and Stafford triumphed in Counties Four Midlands West (North), while Stourport thrashed Bromsgrove III in Counties Four Midlands West (South West).