STOURBRIDGE were given a taste of the hairdryer treatment at half-time after they trailed Caldy 7-5 following a lacklustre first-half showing before running out 30-14 winners in National Two North.

Although full-back Tom Jarvis had touched down for a try within three minutes of the kick-off following some fine play from winger Nathan Bressington, the Saxons effectively switched off from that point and allowed Caldy to dictate the game.

The Cheshire side hit back almost immediately when winger Matt Van Sermita gathered a poorly executed kick which he hacked into the goal-line and then won the race to ground.

Fly-half Rich Vasey fired over the following conversion to give Caldy a 7-5 lead which they held to half-time — much to the displeasure of the Saxons coaching staff.

Director of Rugby Neil Mitchell said: “We were being embarrassed on our own pitch and a few chosen words were said.

“The players were given a precise programme of what to do when playing against the wind, but they didn’t do it.

“Caldy had also worked out our line-out calls, but we didn’t have the nouce to change things.

“We also had an ultimate force in the scrum, which we didn’t use. It was just poor game management all round and I think some of the things which were said hit home and we got the required response in the second half.”

Stourbridge were back in front two minutes into the second period, Bressington again providing the opening for Will Hurrell to touchdown.

Fly-half Caolan Ryan then kicked a penalty as Caldy began to feel the full force of Saxons’ pack.

Bressington finally bagged a try of his own, outpacing the Caldy defence to score before Jarvis secured his second and the bonus point try after scything his way through several weakly attempted tackles.

Ryan converted both tries and then added a penalty when Caldy infringed after being shoved at least 20 metres back in the scrum.

With points in the bag, Caldy clawed back a late consolation try through centre Gavin Roberts which Vasey improved upon.

Saxons have no fixture this week, but Mitchell promised no let-up in training before his side travel to Otley on February 16.