A LAST-gasp penalty condemned Old Halesonians to a narrow 29-26 defeat after a thrilling clash with Sutton Coldfield.

Despite the defeat Old Hales stay third in Midlands One West after picking up two bonus points for scoring four tries and losing by less than seven. They travel to Walsall this Saturday.

Meanwhile the club’s under-15s continued their fine form with a 48-7 win over Aston Old Edwardians.

A glorious day for rugby saw the Angels kicking down the slope and it wasn’t long before Adam Totten drove over, only to be held up.

From the resultant five metre scrum Hales won the ball, spun it wide and Jack Bennett went in for the first on seven minutes.

Three tries followed from Connor Leahy, Jack Grosvenor and Ben Nettey, only one of which Nettey converted, before Old Eds’ fly-half took advantage of a momentary lapse in concentration by Hales defence to run in their first try.

Hales responded when Totten steamrollered the Old Eds fullback to score under the posts which Nettey converted making the half-time score of 31-7.

The visitors again made a significant number of changes for the second half and a hat trick of tries by Jack Keeling (50, 55 and 60mins), two of which Nettey converted, saw Hales score over 45 points for the second game in succession.

The U12s continued to play some very impressive rugby as they hammered Droitwich 54-0, scoring eight tries in the process.

Harrison Plumb got a hat-trick of scores with Jack Manison getting a brace and kickers James Griffiths and Rhys Arthur only missed one conversion between them.

However, the main plus point from the game was the impressive team performance with every member of the squad contributing.

A second half fightback helped the U13 Titans record a 24-14 victory over a stubborn Warley.

Kieran Haynes got two late tries to give himself a triple and Hales victory.

There was derby joy for the U14s who beat Dudley Kingswinford 31-5 in the North Midlands Cup.

Hales’ early pressure eventually told when Luke Chapman scored a try and Dan Sinfield grabbed a second just before the break.

DK had more of the game in the second half but Halesonians scored first from a backs move through Sam Birkin.

DK then scored an excellent try to get back in the game before a Dan Starks double saw Hales home.