Boars elevated by win

The Boars, unbeaten since the Christmas break, made three changes to the side that chalked up their first away victory of the season at Whitchurch last week, with Alex McIntosh, Dan Quinn and Graham Gadd returning to the starting line-up.

The Finstall Park outfit started the game in a confident manner.

The forwards played with aggression, catching Walsall unaware and after five minutes some excellent sniping play from Ben Copson and Lee Ward in the visitors' 22 resulted in a fumbled ball which was hacked through to the corner by Kevin Foster.

The result was a foot-race to touch the ball down, and skipper Richard Arnold dived over to strike the first blow for Bromsgrove.

Copson pulled the conversion wide from an acute angle.

The visitors replied after 20 minutes with a spell of concerted pressure which forced Bromsgrove to defend a five-metre line-out.

Despite strong defence from Gadd and Drew Harper, the Walsall maul gathered momentum and broke the Bromsgrove whitewash.

The conversion was missed.

Bromsgrove continued to play with maturity and adventure against a well-drilled Walsall defence.

Some excellent work in the lineout from both Foster and Nick Wright gave the backs an opportunity to unleash the centre partnership of Copson and Quinn.

This opportunity arose mid-way through the first-half when strong running play from Lee Wainwright, Tom Solomon and Richard Stockholm put Bromsgrove deep in the Walsall 22.

After five phases of forward play, led by Kevin Salisbury and Alex McIntosh, the Bromsgrove pack had pushed Walsall into their own five-metre line.

Ward then fed the back line and Copson made a half-break in the Walsall defence which was read superbly by Nigel Burrows.

He followed through and took a close pass to clear the Walsall line for the Boars' second try.

Copson converted adding a further two points.

Walsall came back well with a strong push for the Bromsgrove line. They were kept out by a combination of outstanding defence and luck on Bromsgrove's part.

A penalty attempt rebounded from the upright into the hands of the Walsall attack only to be fumbled on the Bromsgrove line.

The second half continued in much the same vein as the first.

Walsall pushed hard in attack, but lacked any incision and their play was matched by the hard work of the stout Bromsgrove defence.

Infringements crept into the Walsall defence which left Duncan Roke with an easy penalty opportunity which was duly converted to take the Bromsgrove tally to 15 points.

The visitors kept probing and were rewarded after 60 minutes when some strong play left an overlap in the Bromsgrove 22, allowing Walsall to crash over for a try.

The conversion was missed and Bromsgrove saw the rest of the game out by starving Walsall of the ball.

Click here to see more action shots of Bromsgrove's win over Walsall