It’s as easy as ABC for rampant DK boys
The back to basics theory worked wonders for Dudley Kingswinford as they cranked up the pressure in Midlands 1 West.
An impressive second-half display saw DK run out 87-12 winners at home to Longton.
The win left DK sitting third behind Newbold on Avon and Bromsgrove, who clash this weekend.
And head coach Neil Shillingford was delighted with his side’s reaction to his half-time instructions.
DK had the bonus point in the bag as they led 24-7 at the break, but Shillingford was keen to ensure his side didn’t go hunting for individual glory and stuck to the game plan.
“We had secured the bonus point by half-time but we had a chat at the break about getting back to doing the basics,” said Shillingford.
“In games like that you do the basics and let the boys out wide score the tries. And we did that in the second half and put points on the board. It was a good all-round team performance.
“It’s all about the ABCs. You have to go through A and B first to get to C. You can’t just skip straight to B and C.
“There have been occasions this season when we have had the chance to put teams to the sword but not done it.
“We did that on Saturday and it has boosted our aggregate points total which could be vital at the end of the season.”
DK head to struggling Malvern on Saturday with Shillingford keen to see them turn the heat up on the top two.
“The top two play each other and we are hoping for a nil-nil draw,” joked Shillingford. “We will have one eye on that but the main thing is take care of ourselves and make sure we get our performance right.
“Malvern have been struggling but we won’t be taking them lightly and we want to follow up with another good performance and win.”
Tries from Nick Adams, Pete Griffiths, Matt Squires and Joe Dunn plus two conversions from Sam Vaughan accounted for DK’s first-half points.
A further nine tries were added after the break.
James Jefferson bagged a hat-trick and Jordan Brookes scored twice, with Tommy Walker, Nick Adams, Stef Shillingford and Dunn also touching down. The consistent Vaughan slotted over another 18 points with the boot.
Stourbridge Lions hit the comeback trail to claim a dramatic 25-24 win at home to Stoke.
Lions appeared to be heading for a certain defeat when they trailed 24-10, Ben Tibbetts and Stuart Doolittle the try scorers, with 10 minutes left on the clock.
But a stunning finish saw them hit back to claim a bonus-point success.
An unconverted try from Will Tibbetts gave the Lions hope, especially when a Stoke player was binned for persistent infringing.
Elliot Hopkin then crossed for an unconverted score to cut the deficit to four points.
Another sin-binning left Stoke down to 13 and wide open to the rejuvenated home attacks. With only a couple of minutes left the Lions attacked again and an overlap ended with George Tildesley touching down to clinch the win.
