KIDDERMINSTER Carolians retained the North Midlands Shield after coming from behind to beat Veseyans 23-16 in the final at Dudley Kingswinford.

It took the defending champions a long time to wake up and they gave Veseyans a 10 points lead. They pulled level three times in the second half but it was only when left wing Ryan Tiene crossed three minutes from time that Kidderminster led for the first time.

At one stage it looked like Veseyans would win a North Midlands competition for the first time after full-back Ed Saunders crossed after five minutes and wing Jon Fellows added the conversion followed by a penalty.

But Kidderminster clawed their way back into the match and reduced the deficit to three points when Ryan Wainwright went over on the stroke of half time and fly-half Rhys Pritchard added the conversion.

Pritchard landed a penalty a minute into the second half which drew Kidderminster level and he then traded penalties with Fellows until the scores were level at 16-16.

Under the competition rules Veseyans would have won had the scoreline stayed that way having scored first - the third tie-breaker.

But Tiene made certain of victory for Kidderminster with a well-worked try down the short side which Pritchard converted.

It was Kidderminster's third Shield title following their success in 2006.

Old Saltleians won the North Midlands Shield Plate for the second time in three seasons with a hard-earned 26-19 win over Harborne.

Tries from hooker Mitesh Dhanak, number eight Dan Fentham and centre Mike Ho helped Old Saltleians to their third North Midlands title in eight seasons having won the Shield proper in 2010.