HOLDERS Kidderminster Carolians secured their place in the last 16 of the North Midlands Shield with a convincing 21-3 win over Old Saltleians at Marlpool Lane.

The blustery conditions produced a scrappy first half hour and KCs found themselves trailing to an early Salts penalty.

With the elements in their favour the visitors had the majority of possession and it took some last -ditch defending to keep the home line intact but despite losing player coach Andy Stooksbury with an ankle injury, the home side eventually found some fluidity.

From the first real flowing move of the match , the home side claimed a try through winger Haydn Pearse after the forwards and backs combined to outflank the Salts defence.

With a 5-3 advantage,KCs began the second half in determined fashion and increased their lead with a Tom Scandrett penalty.

A bruised and battered Jason Sunderland was replaced by Carl Whitehead who touched down only minutes after coming on when KCs Pack drove Salts off their own five-metre scrum.

Salts were now under severe pressure in both scrum and lineout and a high tackle on Scandrett resulted in another three points when he kicked the penalty.

The scoring was completed by a try from scrum-half Mark James after another powerful scrummage by the home pack where prop Rocky Wright was outstanding.

"It was a superb display of controlled rugby especially as we had probably seven players not available for selection," said coach Andy Stooksbury.

"Alex and Chris Baldwin who are both 17 were fantastic, so was Jason Sunderland. The scrummage was excellent and it was good to see Rocky Wright playing well again and Tom Oakes has been working well with Tom Scandrett in the backs."

The 2nd XV recovered from trailing 0-18 at half-time to overcome Evesham 29-25 to complete a good day for the Marlpool Lane men.

Cleobury Mortimer Cleobury remain third from bottom in Midlands Four West (South) after a 29-10 defeat at Evesham.

Still wracked by injury, those stepping up from the 2nd XV did an excellent job.

After conceding an early try, they drew level thanks to a tremendous backs move that put in winger Zak Weavers in the corner.

But their hosts ran in two more tries before the break and a late score from Allan Shields was only a consolation for Cleobury.

the 2nd XV wer weakened by first team calls and lost 39-24 to Ludlow. tries came from debutants Craig and Shorter, Gareth Powell and Kevin Shields, while Nigel Williams landed two conversions.