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All-conquering Old Halesonians Rugby Club will be hoping to secure promotion from Midlands Four West (North) this Saturday to conclude an incredible 12 months for the Wassell Grove club.

Old Hales require one more victory to seal a step up the rugby ladder.

The club are currently top of the table having won all 18 league games and president Martin Head is confident a promotion party is just around the corner.

He said: "We are virtually promoted now but to mathamtically make sure we require one more victory.

"The club have had an incredible 12 months and promotion would be well deserved to all those involved with the club both on and off the field."

Old Hales will travel to promotion rivals Willenhall this Saturday(2.15pm) in search of that vital victory.

Last weekend, Hales stormed to a 28-3 home win over Burntwood.

The first half was dominated by Hales and play rarely crossed the halfway line. However, a blustery wind and a determined defence from the visitors led to an uncharacteristic error-strewn half. This restricted Hales to a solitary 32nd minute penalty from fly-half Ben Smith. Unable to convert their sustained territorial pressure into points, Hales were visibly frustrated at the break.

A fiery half-time talk from coaches Gareth Smith and Gary Cox seemed to have the desired impact upon the home side. Indeed, the second half saw a change in fortunes for Hales, who ran in four tries.

The first of these came from a catch and drive line-out in the Burntwood 22 with Alan Hubbleday grounding the ball.

A second try came for Hales when they exposed the visitiors' backline for pace, with centre Richard Harding finishing well after some strong running from Alex Church down the wing.

In the 68th minute, Jon Tideswell capitalised on free-ball in open space, danced around one defender and raced for the try line to score. Smith duly converted to take the game away from Burntwood, at 23-6. Late on, substitute prop Sean Gaynham was found out on the wing with a two-on-one, Dan Grant drew the defender and gave Gaynham the ball in space, which he consumed with great delight and no lack of speed to score.

10:24am Thursday 6th March 2008

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