OLD Halesonians went top of Midlands One West with a 25-18 win at promotion rivals Worcester Wanderers.

The hosts began the day in pole position but ended it four points behind Old Hales.

Worcester began strongly and lead through an early penalty before great work by Dan Young set up Luke Smith for the first try of the game.

The home side hit back with a converted try to take a 10-5 lead but Old Hales quickly snatched the initiative again, with Smith grabbing his second and Steve Powell adding the conversion.

Both sides exchanged penalties as the second-half began and though Worcester nudged ahead with their second try, another Powell penalty levelled the scores at 18-18.

Old Hales lifted themselves once more as they looked for the winning score, which arrived courtesy of centre Simon Sabel with Powell adding the extras.

They now host Stratford at Wassell Grove this Saturday.

The thirds recorded a 31-10 win away at Evesham second.

Sam Jones got them off to a flyer with an early try and the lead was duly extended by Steve Deakin, following an excellent move.

More good play set-up Ben Roberts for try number three and another score from Craig Jukes made it 24-0.

Evesham hit back with two unconverted tries either side of half-time but any hopes of a comeback were extinguished when Mike Topping crossed for Hales’ final score, Gaz Price kicking the conversion.

Matt Wagstaff and Tim Curtis scored two tries each as the fourths cruised to a 43-0 win at Stourport.