Ross progressed to the semi finals of the North Midlands Shield after a dogged display in energy sapping conditions last Saturday at Greytree. They will now play either Pershore or Droitwich who play their quarter final this week, at home on Saturday, 7th May.

Both teams started positively, looking to move the ball at every opportunity and looking to secure the advantage of scoring first. However it was defences that dominated the first quarter, with Jack Evans and Dave Mince putting in some big hits on the Shrewsbury ball carriers. As the game entered the second quarter it was Ross who took control of the tie with a purple ten minute spell.

Ross secured quality scrum ball on the half way line and fly half, Chay Brine chipped the ball into the Shrewsbury twenty two. As the ball stood up off the bounce it was Chay who re-gathered his kick and outpaced the Shrewsbury full back to score wide out on the left. The conversion was missed and Ross were 5-0 ahead. Within five minutes they had extended their lead to 10-0. With front row Tara Barnett, Wayne Williams and Matt Redman dominating at scrum time, No 8, Adam Clements picked up from the back of the scrum and fed scrum half Craig Powell. Quick hands by the backs put Winger, Grant Holdsworth clear and he outpaced his Winger to score in the right hand corner. The difficult conversion was missed and Ross were 10-0 ahead. Casey Morgan added a penalty and Ross were 13-0 ahead with half time looming. However, with minutes to go, Shrewsbury scored and converted a try to go in at half time 13-7 down.

It was Shrewsbury who started the second half the strongest, dominating possession and as a result territory. The Ross defence were made to work hard but some great tackling from Gavin Oates and Gareth Holdsworth kept the visitors at bay. However, the weight of pressure finally told after 55 minutes when Shrewsbury added their second try scoring wide out on the left, bringing the score to 13-12. Ross refused to buckle and with 10 minutes remaining, Grant Holdsworth added his second score, putting Ross 18-12 ahead. The home team controlled the remainder of the game and progressed to the semi final on 7th May at Greytree. Kick off is at 3pm.

There were some notable performances but the Drop Inn Man of the Match went to Grant Holdsworth for his brace of tries.