Sat 11 Apr 2026
Claverdon RFC hosted local rivals, Berkswell & Balsall and Saturday afternoon. The reverse fixture saw Berkswell comfortably win, and with them sat in second place in the league, the Lions knew they would have to work hard to compete.
Claverdon struck first as back row, Elliot Saltmarsh broke through the Berkswell line. As Saltmarsh was hunted down by the scrambling defence, he found Gabe Ball in support who used his speed to finish off the well worked try. The windy conditions meant Luke Sibley couldn’t find the extra two points on the conversion. The Claverdon celebrations were quickly muted as Berkswell came back to create their own attack through a driving maul. The heavy front five allowed the away side to carry the ball over the line and bring the score to 5-5.
Right before halftime, Claverdon shipped the ball out wide to winger, Josh Evans, who sat down his opposite man and emphatically scored in the corner following a 50-metre run. Despite the tighter angle, Sibley achieved the conversion and the game broke for halftime at 12-5 in favour of the home side.
Claverdon weathered an early Berkswell spell of possession in the second half and managed to turn momentum in their favour. In a moment of brilliance, Sibley chipped the ball over the defensive line and with the lucky bounce of the ball, collected and scored. Claverdon were 19-5 up with 20 minutes to play. However, Berkswell, using the strength of their forward pack again found their way over the line twice in quick succession. The score read 19-17. With less than 5 minutes to play, a penalty deep into the Claverdon half allowed Berkswell to take an extra 3 points, and steal the game.
The Claverdon boys had a lot to admire for their performance against a side competing for promotion. They will now focus on their final away fixture of the season at Harbury on Saturday afternooon.
Report by Hilton Garner-Jones
