EVESHAM'S Under-10s defeated Alcester 25-20 in a friendly encounter between two closely-matched sides.

From the first whistle Evesham showed they had the bit between their teeth with Robert Smith and James Thomas taking the ball into the Alcester half before passing to Ben Jones who put his shoulders down and charged forward to take the first points inside 25 seconds.

Alcester replied immediately from the restart and an interception then saw them take a 10-5 lead.

Despite the heat, neither side let up and it wasn't long before George Anderson ran half the length of the pitch before passing on to Josh Perry who laid it on to Jones to notch his second try.

Perry's turn came next as he picked the ball out of a ruck and drove over the Alcester line to give Evesham the half-time advantage.

Matthew Jacobs soon extended the lead but Alcester battled back and were only denied another try as the tackling skills of player of the match Ben Herborn, James Thomas and Anderson helped keep them out.

However, the pressure finally paid off to make it 20-20 but props Kieran and Ben Jones combined to grab the decider with the latter crossing for the matchwinning points.