DROITWICH have been handed a walkover in the RFU Intermediate Cup after their tie against Ludlow was called off.
The Salt Boys are looking to follow up the successful cup campaign last year when they won the Midlands Senior Vase and reached the national final of the RFU Senior Vase.
However, with Midlands Two West (North) outfit Ludlow unable to get a team together for the third round tie tomorrow (Saturday), the game has been cancelled, with Droitwich progressing into the fourth round by default.
With no competitive fixture, the Glyn Mitchell Memorial Ground side have now arranged a friendly at Camp Hill Seconds.
“The lads were a little bit disappointed the Ludlow game was called off as the cup games act as a nice distraction,” said Droitwich skipper James Shewell.
“Cup games offer a different challenge to league games which we enjoy.
“We always want to get through the rounds by winning but if we go on a bit of a run hopefully this will be forgotten.
“Camp Hill provide us with the chance now to rest some players and look at different combinations.
“Hopefully some positives can come out of a frustrating weekend.”
Droitwich head into their friendly on the back of Saturday’s 29-10 victory over Southam, a result which maintained the Salt Boys’ 100 per cent winning record in Midlands Two West (South).
Phil Anderson-Shore, Michael Craigie, Russel Brown, Aron Middleton and Matthew Handford bagged the tries while Bobby Scott-Walker kicked two conversions as second-placed Droitwich made it five wins out of five.
“It was a tricky game for us really because of the windy conditions,” said Shewell.
“Sometimes when the weather is like that there’s the risk you always try to play the conditions rather than your own style of rugby. But once we settled we played some really useful rugby and came away with the right result.”
Meanwhile, the Seconds enjoyed a 25-10 friendly victory over Malvern Seconds on Saturday.
Malvern started well as they kicked a penalty to take a 3-0 lead before Droitwich took a 5-3 took the lead after Nico Mason touched down for an unconverted try.
Mason then crossed the line for another unconverted try as Droitwich went into the break 10-3 ahead.
The Salt Boys started the second period brightly, with Nick Godfrey crossing the try line to extend the advantage to 15-3.
However, Malvern hit back with a converted try to come within five points of Droitwich.
But with 15 minutes to go, Josh Skinner settled any Droitwich nerves as he touched down before Sam White bagged a late try to complete the scoring.
Skipper Craig Browne said: “I was really proud of the lads against Malvern.
“They all knew that it was going to be an extremely strong friendly against their pack.
“They love quick ball and breaking the line and we needed to manage that.”
“All the lads kept a clear heads, and wanted to right the wrongs of last season’s defeat.”
The Seconds now travel to Old Saltleians tomorrow for a Midlands Reserve League Division Three clash.
