RUGBY ST ANDREWS 11pts, UPTON 11pts

UPTON have at last lifted the Warwickshire monkey' or bear from their shoulders with their first league point gained on Warwickshire soil.

Despite the large amounts of rain having descended from the heavens over the previous few days rendering many pitches unplayable, once again this season Upton have played on every Saturday.

For the first 20 minutes of this Midlands Five (West) game, Upton were camped in the Rugby half but could not put points on the board despite two near penalty misses, kicks that held up in the wind.

Rugby were relying on desperate tackles and long clearance kicks with the wind down field. Upton's back three were able to field the kicks and then counter attack again. After 25 minutes Rugby kicked downfield and for the first time caused Upton to defend illegally on their 22 and full-back Gardner converted the penalty. This score stung Upton who went straight back on the attack having regained the ball at the restart, and sent the threes on the attack again across to the right hand side and reached the Rugby 22. The forwards arrived and set up a rolling maul which rumbled on despite Rugby trying to collapse it with only five metres to go, but flanker Jason Tolley kept his feet and was driven over the line for an unconverted try and 3-5.

Leading up to half-time, both teams exchanged penalties with skipper Rob Healey being successful for Upton to maintain the lead at 6-8.

With the wind behind them in the second half, Upton would have been expected to have gone on and make the game safe but within five minutes of the restart, major injuries to two key influential members of Upton's back row completely disrupted the pattern of play.

Whilst Upton adjusted the home left-winger picked up a loose ball and raced over in the corner for an unconverted try to give Rugby the lead again at 11-8.

Both teams were now having trouble understanding the exchange referee's law interpretations and this led to some scrappy play but Healey was able to convert a penalty on 65 minutes and Upton managed to hang on and shared the points with a 11-11 scoreline.

Where and who Upton play next depends on weather conditions and other teams needs to play catch up league matches.