Nuneaton prop Joe Loach was the star of the show as Warwickshire began their RFU National Under-20 Championship campaign with a crushing 56-12 victory over Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire at Broadstreet today.
The tighthead scored a hat-trick of tries including two in the second half as Warwickshire made an impressive start to their attempt to win Nidlands Group B of the competition and qualify for the national quarter-finals for the second time in three seasons.
Warwickshire ran in eight tries in all, evenly divided between the halves, with Nuneaton fly-half Tom Short rounding off an excellent team display by converting all of them.
After Loach gave Warwickshire an early lead with his first try, there were two tries from winger Elliott Brown (Kenilworth) and lock Andy Weaver (Barkers' Butts) inside the first quarter.
NL&D rallied briefly when hooker Ali Shaw of Deepings crossed for an unconverted try to make the half-time score 28-5.
But Warwickshire began the second half as they bhad the first with a flurry of tries inside 16 minutes. Loach scored his second and completed his hat-trick either side of a try from winger Jeff Gregson (Barkers' Butts).
NL&D trimmed the deficit when centre Kyle Pelkes (Derby) rewarded their spirited resistance with their second try and Matt Cornfield of Derby added the conversion.
But Warwickshire had the final word with replacement back-row forward Joe Gavin of Sutton Coldfield crossing for the eighth and final try with Short adding his final conversion.
The next match in Midlands Group B of the competition is between Oxford University and North Midlands at Iffley Road on Sunday February 4.
Midlands Group A gets underway on Tuesday January 30 when Cambridge University host East Midlands at Grange Road. Leicestershire take on Staffordshire at South Leicester RFC on Wednesday January 31.
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