BOURNEMOUTH 26 BIRMINGHAM AND SOLIHULL 31

A late try with nine minutes left saw Bournemouth lose their first pre-season game against a side from the level above.
Playing three periods of 30 minutes, there was an air of a warm up to the season proper with cobwebs blown away under baking Chapel Gate sunshine.
There was certainly signs of summer rustiness in the boot of kicker Grant Hancox after pushing penalties wide after two and 13 minutes.
But he was on target on 15 minutes when scrum-half Mike Pope handed off defenders like flies on his way to the red zone before letting lock Matt Warwick take the glory.
With two minutes remaining of the opening half hour, Birmingham's replacement hooker ran in an easy score after space opened up, with scrum-half Jack Jolly tying things up at 7-7.
Home full-back Danny Kirkpatrick then found himself in space out wide just three minutes into the second period, before converting himself for 14-7.
After heroic home defence, the resilient resistance finally broke on 24 minutes when the visitors surged over out wide, but kicker Harry O'Brien failed to tie the scores.
Following rafts of changes from both teams, the away side went 19-14 up when full-back Ben Phillips spun his way over from close range with O'Brien on target.
The Lions roared back on 57 minutes to make it 19-19 when new nine Pope found Josh Wright with a cross-field kick to score but Pope failed to improve.
The Midlands Premier champions took control of the third and final period with two tries to one to take the spoils.
Wing Matt Dight sprinted away from everyone on 65 minutes but Jolly failed to convert leaving a 24-19 advantage.
Five minutes later Dight's opposite number Dan Stewart turned on the afterburners to score with Hancox's kick nudging 26-24 up.
Birmingham's big number eight Umraan Jadwat then rounded things off after he smashed through from metres out on 81 minutes leaving Jolly an easy kick.

Will Croker is pleased with how his squad are knitting together despite losing their first pre-season match 31-26 at home to Birmingham and Solihull.
The Chapel Gate side were leading 26-24 until the last 20 minutes when Solihull wrecking ball number eight Umraan Jadwat smashed through for the decisive score.
With two more runs outs before the South West Premier campaign starts properly on September 1, the Lions' Director Of Rugby is happy with the progress his side are making.
Croker said: "I'm absolutely over the moon with the game, they were big and abrasive and we talked in the week about how they were riding high on a wave of confidence after winning promotion and we have really come out here and done a job on them.
"We were leading up until the last five minutes of the game and we have blooded a load of new players.
"Even in the second period when we put them away - when the guys were not so experienced and have not played a lot of rugby so far in pre-season - they more than showed up for us so I'm really pleased.
"Of course the performance is important - we obviously want to win it - and of course the fact we were up with just five minutes to go is of course a bit of a disappointment.
"The fundamentals are we have got a new defensive system - we have got new players to play in attack.
"We need to start to gel and that was very much in evidence but we scored some really wonderful tries and played some really good stuff so I am really pleased with the start we have made."
It was evident the Midlands men were a well-drilled unit and arrived full of confidence - showcased perfectly by their late winning score with just nine minutes left.
But Croker said there were plenty of positives he could take into their week off this coming week, after getting their toughest test of the summer out of the way first.
Croker added: "I wanted us to have a tough start - I wanted us to feel like we were absolutely playing tough rugby right from day one - and that was it.
"These boys have really enjoyed it - they have walked off the pitch with big smiles on their faces, and that is a proper welcome to the season for us."