Old Halesonians 39 - 6 Longton

The home side saw a change with skipper Steve Leach replacing injured Ben Barkley in the centres, Kieran Haynes started in the back row and second row Jamie Powell was on the bench.

After five minutes of Hales pressure, scrum half Chris Danks took the ball from a loose maul. He dummied his opposite man, raced forward and sold another dummy for a brilliant individual try.

From the restart, Hales again attacked, Longton were penalised in their 22 and full back Ian Briggs converted.

On 13 minutes Hales were again on the offensive and dominant in the scrum, after another penalty was awarded to the home side and fly half Chris Hooper took a quick tap and passed to Danks for his second try which was converted by Briggs.

Longton scored a penalty which was shortly followed by another and Hales needed to re assert themselves before half time.

Clayton received a yellow card for a high tackle as Hales put more pressure on the visitors with Breese and Mason showing their forward power. Another penalty to Hales resulted and Briggs converted for an 18 - 6 lead at half time.

On 46 minutes another dominant line out by Breese saw the ball fed along the backs, from Hooper inside to wing Jay Reid who sprinted through the gap to score a great try which was converted by Briggs.

The home side made changes with Matt Young on at prop for Probert, Jamie Keen on for Danks and Powell on for Collingham. Longton found it hard to gain any grip on the game and attacks were thwarted by Hales defence with Hooper, Robinson, Clayton and Mason tackling well.

Keen kept the Hales team going forward with quick service and Hooper controlled play. On 70 minutes from a set scrum, Clayton broke and after a passing move the ball came to Hooper who sprinted for a bonus point try, converted by Briggs.

From the restart, great strength and determination by Taylor and Jones in attack resulted in a loose maul on Longton's 22. Keen collected and with great vision chipped over the defence for wing Luke Smith to beat his opposite man for a try, which was converted by Briggs to make the final score 39-6..

After the game director of rugby Gary Cox said: "We got exactly what we asked for today, five points to put us fifth in the league and back in contention. We will rest the players for a week and return in preparation for our biggest challenge away at Nuneaton"

Hales play Nuneaton away on Saturday January 7, kick off 2.15 pm.

Old Halesonians third XV 48 – 0 Kidderminster second XV

Old Hales started the game well and early on the ball was swiftly moved to Dan Smith on the left wing to sprint in for a try from 35 metres out. Rhys Evans slotted over the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

Kidderminster came back into the game and used there large pack of forwards well. Kiddy piled on some sustained pressure for 10 minutes and made several valiant attempts to score but the Old Hales defence held firm.

Old Hales got a grip on the game and from a maul deep in the 22, Tony Shaw broke from the maul to go over for a try from short range to make the half time score 12-0.

Old Hales kicked off for the second half and Steve Deakin collected the ball on the bounce and sailed straight through the Kiddy defence to score.

The home team started to open up and after collecting the ball, Matt Williams made a good long pass to Jon Harris who raced in to score extending the lead to 22-0.

Williams was in the action again; an accurate cross field kick put the Kiddy defence under pressure and Old Hales wing Alex Church won the race to touch the ball down for a try. Evans converted to make the score 29-0.

Fullback Billy Taylor and Andy Tromans combined well to give Jon Harris the opportunity to sprint 35 metres to score a well worked try. Tromans added the conversion: 36-0.

A seventh try of the game was scored by Old Hales when Williams and Neil Western moved the ball quickly to Harry Higgs out on the right wing, for Higgs to barge his way over in the corner.

The final try of the game was scored on the left by Alex Church after some good interplay by Jon Harris and Billy Taylor. Rhys Evans converted for a final score of 48-0.

Old Hales scorers: Tries: Dan Smith, Tony Shaw, Steve Deakin, Jon Harris (2), Alex Church (2), Harry Higgs Conversion: Rhys Evans (3), Andy Tromans