Their seventh successive victory saw Clifton run in eight tries and demonstrate how well organised this team has become with a strong defensive line and the ability to inject pace across the team with some delightful handling to create momentum.

Bournville kept in the game in the early stages through the place kicking of scrum half Freddie Morgan who sent over three penalties. Clifton needed to react to reduce the penalty count against them.

A line break by centre Matt Smith sent winger Luke Daniels over in the corner with some clever foot work. A loose Bournville pass found its way to “AK” Kilbane who sprinted fifty metres to touch down. Fly half Ollie Milner, who launched his backs at every opportunity, kicked the first of seven conversions

Strong play by hooker Tom Anderson sent Smith over before good play by flanker Freddie Myatt presented the opportunity for Anderson to go under the posts

Myatt’s power and basketball like ball skills then saw him on a weaving run of sixty metres to score and earn him the Clifton Sausage Man of the Match award. Danny Rundle took his chance well to keep Bournville in the game with a try . However livewire Clifton captain Mitch Spencer was on hand to gather a superb off load from Marcus Nel to score and he then stole the opposition ball from the back of a scrum to add his second. A further Kilbane effort topped off the scoring as he cut through the tiring defence.

Key factors contributing to this win and the recent sequence of performances are the squad’s high level of fitness and the timely interventions from a strong bench backed by player rotation to keep all players up to the level of intensity required and awareness of patterns of play.

As this game progressed the dominance of the lavender and black pack in both tight and open play was impressive and created territory and frustration for their opponents.

Story: Roger Opie
Photo: Ian Clarke