Trio return to Two Counties in RLF North Midlands final
17/05/10 by Paul Bolton
Worcestershire & Herefordshire will welcome back Dudley Kingswinford centre Rees Pritchard, Pershore winger Stef Ellis and Old Halesonians scrum-half Chris Wagstaff for the RLF North Midlands Championship final against defending champions Shropshire at Stourbridge's Stourton park ground on Tuesday May 18 (7.30pm).
Pritchard and Ellis missed the 20-15 victory over Shropshire in the Two Counties' final group match at Droitwich two weeks ago but return in a re-shuffled back division.
Will Farris of Malvern, who was on the replacements' bench for the North Midlands senior side, moves from centre to full-back in place of Hereford's Kieran Hallum with Ellis displacing Alex Pimlow of Upton on Severn.
Wagstaff was a replacement two weeks ago but impressed when he came on and he will start in the final ahead of Gary Preece of Hereford who has been named among the replacements.
Worcestershire & Herefordshire failed to qualify for last season's final but they have prospered under their new coaching team of Nick Tisdale and Duncan Hughes, both former Worcester Warriors players.
Worcestershire & Herefordshire won both their group matches in the triangular competition while Shropshire reached the final with a walkover when Greater Birmingham withdrew from their scheduled match at Harper Adams University last week because of problems in raising a side.
The RLF North Midlands Championship is contested annually by the three Domestic Unions that comprise the North Midlands RFU and gives players from outside the National Leagues and those who do not play regular first team rugby at National Leagues level the opportunity to experience a high standard of representative rugby.
The competition has again been generously sponsored by RLF (Robinson Low Francis), the national firm of construction and property consultants, who are long-time supporters of the RLF North Midlands Championship and grassroots rugby in England.
Worcestershire & Herefordshire: 15 Will Farris (Malvern); 14 Stef Ellis (Pershore), Rees Pritchard (Dudley Kingswinford), 12 Dan Thompson (Stourbridge Lions), 11 Tom Millen (Stourbridge Lions); 10 Dean Powell (Hereford), 9 Chris Wagstaff (Old Halesonians); 1 Ben Hilstead (Hereford – captain), 2 Luke Greenwood (Dudley Kingswinford), 3 Rich Taylor (Old Halesonians), 4 Will Watkins (Hereford), 5 Ed Parry (Dudley Kingswinford), 6 James Martin (Malvern), 7 Christina Edwards (Malvern), Andy McEwan (Dudley Kingswinford). Replacements: Alex Murphy (Malvern), James Owen (Stourbridge Lions), Martin Hope (Pershore), Ali McCall (Hereford), Gary Preece (Hereford), Sam Baker (Stourbridge Lions), Dan Speedy (Dudley Kingswinford).
