OLD Halesonians Seconds travelled over to Walsall for a friendly encounter last Saturday.

From the off Hales were on the front foot. Following a few incisive breaks through the Walsall defence, Jake Shellis came across from the right wing to collect the ball at pace and rounded the defence down the left before scoring under the posts. Andy Tromans slotted over the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

Walsall got their act together and the two centres in particular made some strong runs down the middle of the field.

Old Hales went further in front when their dominant scrum forced the opposition pack back over the try line for No.8 Steve Deakin to drop on the ball to score. Once again Tromans added the conversion.

The home side rallied and a combination of good interplay from Walsall and some poor tackling by Old Hales resulted in two tries being scored in quick succession to bring the score back to all level at 14-14.

Walsall started the second half the stronger of the two sides, spending the majority of the first 10 minutes in the Old Hales half. After several attacking moves, the Walsall outside centre ran a good line and burst through the Old Hales defence to score close to the posts for a converted try and a 21-14 lead.

At times the Old Hales backs moved the ball effectively resulting in some long range attacks penetrating the Walsall defence, but it was the Old Hales forwards that dominated the final 10 minutes of the game. The visitor’s powerful pack gave Walsall a torrid time in the scrum and time after time they were driven backwards.

With five minutes remaining, Old Hales were camped on the Walsall try line. The referee awarded Old Hales penalty after penalty for Walsall infringements in the scrum, including a yellow card for their No.7, but a penalty try was not forthcoming.

Finally, the Walsall pack was driven back over the try line and Steve Deakin pounced on the ball for his second try of the game. Andy Tromans stepped up and landed the pressure kick to make the final score all level at 21-21.

Meanwhile, Old Hales' Fourths beat Ross-on-Wye 15-7 away.

Old Halesonians Colts took on old friends Old Luctonians at Wassell Grove.

It was a tense start with both teams making early errors one of which Lucy capitalised on to score a well worked try. This was followed by another after a handling error by Hales which resulted in some slick handling by Lucts to score under the posts.

Hales responded with an excellently worked move on the blindside resulting in Dalton Cooper sprinting 50 metered to score almost under the posts.

Hales gifted Lucts a soft try to leave the score at 17-7 at the break.

Hales battled against a Lucts side very adept at the breakdown who stole ball despite great efforts by Hales to chase the game and use all 15 members on the pitch and in fact the six replacements available.

The game ended 32-7 to the visitors which was not a true reflection of a highly competitive match between two very committed teams.

After a break last weekend, Old Hales first team will take on South Leicester away this Saturday.