Minor league side Coventry Saracens won praise rather than scorn from opponents Alcester after suffering an English league record defeat last weekend.

Coventry Saracens were thrashed 194-3 in the Midlands Six West (South East) division after they took the field with just eight players, rather than the 15 that normally comprise a rugby union team, because of selection problems.

Their depleted side contained three specialist front row forwards and another capable of playing in the front row which meant Saturday's game was, remarkably, completed without the need for uncontested scrums and no league regulations were breached.

Alcester captain Scott Carmichael was impressed the fixture went ahead.

"We dropped three forwards out of the scrum to make it five against three in the scrums but all credit to Coventry Saracens for honouring the fixture," Carmichael said in a Rugby Football Union statement issued Monday.

"A lot of clubs would have cried off, but they turned up and insisted that the game went ahead so they deserve a lot of credit for doing that.

"They have gone up in our estimation and we appreciated their efforts."

Alcester ran in 32 tries to improve their promotion chances and surpassed the previous highest score in a game in England, 177-3 set by Norwich in a Norfolk Cup match against Eccles and Attleborough 13 years ago.

However, Alcester's total was still well short of the world record score of 350-0 set by French Third Division side Lavardac against Vergt in 1984.

Vergt, who conceded a seemingly astonishing 66 tries, which were then valued at four points each, offered only minimal resistance in protest at having four players suspended. The previous week they were beaten 236-0 by Gujan Mestras in similar circumstances.

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