Midlands 1 West

Whitchurch 36

Stourbridge Lions 13

Whitchurch coach Scott Sturdy says the club are enjoying the ride after maintaining their push for the promotion play-offs in Midlands 1 West with a 36-13 victory over Stourbridge Lions at Edgeley Park.

The Reds ran in six tries to move up to joint third in the table with their 17th win of the campaign, and are just one point off second spot with four games remaining

After a week's break, they return to duty with a trip to struggling Sutton Coldfield the following Saturday with everything to play for in a season that has far exceeded expectations.

The Reds are already assured of fourth spot and could still bag a second place finish to book their place in the promotion play-offs, although they still have to play champions elect Bromsgrove.

Dudley Kingswinford are now second after defeating promotion rivals Newbold-on-Avon 24-19, but Whitchurch remain hard on their heels after their convincing bonus point win against Stourbridge Lions.

"All we can do is take it game by game, try to pick up five-point wins and keep the pressure on the sides above," said Sturdy.

"It's going to be difficult as we've got the most challenging of the run-ins, including playing Bromsgrove, but it's great to be in this position in our first since back in the league.

"There is no pressure on us as nobody expected us to be where were are, and it's fantastic to be challenging the likes of Dudley Kingswinford, who got to the play-offs last season, and Newbold who came down from the Midlands premier division."

Next up is a trip to Sutton Coldfield a week on Saturday, with their hosts stumbling 36-0 at Worcester last weekend as their poor run continued.

The West Midlands side have lost their last six outings to languish 10th in the table and the Reds will fancy their chances of completing a double after winning 15-3 at home when the sides met earlier in the season.

Whitchurch produced a solid display to account for Stourbridge Lions 36-13, and were always in the ascendancy as they led 17-5 at half time on their way to a bonus point win.

Captain and flanker Jonathan Cope led the way with a try in each half, while there were other touchdowns from scrum half Jonathan Mullock, wing Ricky Allman, replacement No8 Jack Furnival and centre Luca Owen-Youens.

Whitchurch are now level on points with Newbold and are just a point behind Dudley Kingswinford in a tight promotion play-off race.

The second-placed side have a 330 points difference; Newbold have 316 while Whitchurch have 293.