Coach Scott Sturdy admitted Whitchurch could have made life easier for themselves before maintaining their perfect record in the Midlands Two West (North) with a 21-15 victory at Newcastle.

The champions took a 21-0 lead before their Staffordshire hosts rallied with a couple of scores in the last quarter to make the scoreline closer than it should have been, leaving the Reds two games away from completing an unbeaten season.

"The score did not reflect the game," said Sturdy after the Reds returned from Newcastle with another victory under the belts. "Had a couple of decisions gone for us, and had we taken our chances, then it could have ended up being a 40-point game.

"It was frustrating as we could have made life a lot of easier for ourselves. But it's another win, and we now focus on Cleobury who themselves had a good win against Walsall on Saturday. If we can to through the league unbeaten, then we'll give ourselves a pat on the back, but we're looking no further than this week. We've got six or seven out at the moment for various reasons, but we're still winning games, and we're showing that we fully deserve to be moving up a level next season."

Next up is a trip to basement side Cleobury Mortimer on Saturday, before Leek the following week.