Cleobury in Vase hat - just

Cleobury Mortimer are back on the road to Twickenham after keeping their EDF Senior Vase hopes alive in the most dramatic fashion possible. Last year’s finalists - who made a habit of snatching late victories on that memorable run to rugby headquarters - defeated rivals Telford 11-10 in the first round on Saturday.

And it all came down to the last incident of the game with stand-in kicker Steve Morris slotting over a penalty to hand his side a nail-biting first success of the season after an opening month of struggle in Midlands Four.

“We scored a try just before the end of the game and the conversion would have brought us level and taken us into extra-time,” said skipper Paul Harding.

“When Steve missed that I thought we had gone but we had time to force one more line-out and they infringed as we got into centre field.

“We are delighted to go through and I thought we deserved it because we were by far the better side in the second half.

“You could sense before the game it meant a lot to the lads and we had a good team-talk before the start about last season.”

Telford dominated the early stages but only had a 10-0 advantage to show for their efforts, two tries from Tony Price helping the home side put their noses in front.

A penalty from Morris reduced the arrears just before half-time but Cleobury struggled to make further in-roads, despite the visitors enjoying plenty of pressure.

But a Pete Howman try three minutes from time sparked the late drama which kept the Cleobury dream alive.

Bishop’s Castle also stormed through to the next round as they defeated Spartans 18-10.

And their victory had an international feel with Lithuanian international ace Deividas Brazdzionis scoring the first try with Henry Wilson adding the conversion.

Wilson and his opposite number exchanged penalties in the run-up to half-time but it was Spartans who struck first in the second period, notching a converted try to level the scores at 10-10.

But Castle were not to be denied and another successful Wilson kick saw the hosts regain their lead before a penalty try - after a series of scrums on the visitors’ try line - sealed the success.

“It was a good win and the team are improving and showing they can stick in there,” said captain Gary Waters.

Some of the gloss was knocked off the injury with new second row stalwart Eddie Price suffered a severe break of the ankle.

Clee Hill’s love affair with the Junior Vase is as strong as ever as two tries from Dan Romeo helped them overpower Old Wheatlens 34-3.

A Paul Brick penalty gave Clee the lead and their domination in the pack led to Steve Davies and Romeo both crossing the line, with a penalty try and two successful Brick conversions allowing the hosts to lead 22-0 at half-time.

An Old Wheatlens penalty provided just temporary respite for the visitors and further tries from Robert Fletcher and Romeo sealed the comfortable win.