Old Hales alive and kicking in third place

The 13-5 victory didn't come easy due to the weather playing its part with rain and gale-force winds.

A set scrum led by Hales' front row Rob Butler, Hooker Sam Jones and skipper Rich Taylor, saw Peterborough forced to wheel the pack.

With the referee awarding a penalty try, full-back Chris Hooper converted to give Hales a 7-0 lead.

Peterborough battled on but strong defence by Carl Robinson, Ben Barkley, Tom Jordan, Jay Martin and Steve Leach kept them getting any where near to scoring.

Max MacFarlane excelled for Hales and, having gathered the ball, set off on a 60-metre run, reaching the visitors' 22 before he was eventually taken to the ground.

Penalised for infringement, Peterborough were again under pressure from the Hales pack.

Hooper took a penalty from some 40 metres wide out and, despite the driving wind and rain, he slotted the kick brilliantly to lead 10-0 at half-time.

As the rain continued to pour, Peterborough came out with a forward-dominating game.

The visitors seemed destined to score, but could not overpower the Hales defence, who conceded just one unconverted try as they held on for a 13-5 success.

Third-placed Hales travel to Sutton Coldfield on Saturday.

In National Two North, Stourbridge suffered their third consecutive loss as they went down 19-12 against relegation-threatened Broadstreet.

Stour took the lead with a short-range try for flanker Joe Carpenter, converted by full-back Tom Mitchell.

But indiscipline in their own half gifted nine points in penalties to the hosts' outside-half Lee Chapman.

Handling errors became an issue further down the line, with the squad having to settle with the loss of the bonus point. The fourth-placed side welcome rock-bottom Huddersfield on Saturday.

Meanwhile, in Midlands One West, Walsall are still struggling to make an impact in the league. They fell to a 41-7 defeat against table-toppers Bridgnorth.

It was always going to be a tough match for the squad, but changes to the team and the disastrous weather made it even more of a challenge.

Bridgnorth started well, winning the chase for the first touchdown. Although Walsall battled hard to clear their lines, the wind continued to blow their kicks back towards them.

The line-out proved to be a problem for Walsall throughout the afternoon, but this proved to be strength of their opponents.

The hosts showed some good running and support skills as they tried to set up attacks. Weston, Fearnhead, Williamson, Mould and Pitt linked together well and took play close to the North line.

Unfortunately they failed to secure the lineout possession and the scoring opportunity was lost.

With Bridgnorth scoring two more tries just before the interval, they gave themselves a comfortable lead.

The game came to an end with the visitors completing their scoring with two more close-range tries and a third Fletcher conversion.

Walsall will be hoping to turn things around when they welcome Silhillians on Saturday.

Kidderminster – who welcome Harborne next – secured a 11-5 away win over Banbury in Midlands Two West.