Stourbridge slammed by director following loss to Leicester Lions

Stour fell to fifth in the table following a 37-13 defeat against a well-drilled Leicester.

Despite playing the final quarter with a man fewer, the hosts were stern in defence.

Stour were within two points of Leicester when flanker Drew Rudkin was dismissed but poor defending saw the visitors concede three late tries.

"With 15 minutes to go, we were within two points of them," said Mitchell.

"It was a capitulation and something we have been really disappointed about.

"With a man advantage, we should have taken the game to them but it didn't happen. There were some missed tackles and some poor decisions and we lost.

"There is no excuse. A side that is one man down in the closing stages should have their backs against the wall.

"We have told the lads it is unacceptable and if it happens again, there will be changes made."

Kicking off in steady rain, a missed tackle gave the hosts an early lead with a try for full-back Ian Smith.

Stour kicker Luke White uncharacteristically shanked a penalty attempt shortly after but Lions centre Jon Boden made no mistake, slotting a penalty late in the first period to make the half-time score 8-0.

Playing up the hill in the second half, Stour shipped another try to Lions scrum-half Kris McFedries.

They dug in, though, and pulled through a White penalty.

They then took advantage of Rudkin's dismissal with a short range try for prop Tom Harrison to make it 15-13.

Leicester raised their game though and finished with three tries shared between wingers Sam Benjamin and Dev Constant.

Stour will be hoping to bounce back from the loss when they face Harrogate, who are at the bottom of the table, on Saturday.

"To lose, effectively, five points against a side who are probably going to be up there at the end in Leicester is very damaging. It is a big loss for us," added Mitchell.

"I sincerely hope the players can learn from this because it was not good enough.

"It was basically a white flag from us, it was unacceptable, and I am expecting a complete performance on Saturday. You can allow a small blip, everyone has them, but if it does not get better I have a big squad and changes will have to be made."

In National Three Midlands, Old Halesonians continued their impressive start to the campaign with a hard-fought 19-12 triumph at Peterborough Lions.

Hales have won four of their five fixtures and remain third in the table ahead of their clash with Sandbach at home.

Also in the division, Lichfield fell to a 23-17 defeat at Syston.

They are winless after five games, and 13th in the table, and are now preparing for a huge match against bottom-of-the-table Bedford Athletic on Saturday.

Dudley Kingswinford's winless run in Midlands One West extended to three games with a 20-10 defeat at Burton.

Gareth Bown struck a penalty in the first period for DK but they were down 15-3 at the interval. Stefan Shillingford crossed over for a try, with Bown adding the extras, but it proved too late. They face Crewe & Nantwich on Saturday.

Wolverhampton carried on their hot streak with a 27-17 win over Kenilworth.

They are unbeaten in four heading into their meeting with Moseley Oak.