Cheltenham Civil Service 17 Ross on

Wye 25.

ROSS RUGBY Club 1sts travelled to

play against third placed Cheltenham

Civil Service last Saturday, knowing a win would put them five points clear of

their opponents and leaving the issue of

promotion to Gloucester Premiership in

their own hands.

With Cheltenham knowing that a win

for them would open up the promotion

battle, this had all the components of a

classic encounter, and in the spring sunshine

neither team disappointed.

From the kick-off both sides looked

to play expansive rugby, but it was Ross

who opened their account first. From a

rock solid scrum, Ross broke left, Luke

Gray crashed the ball over the gainline,

Wayne Williams picked up and drove

forward. At the ruck, Cheltenham came

in from the side and Chay Brine put

Ross 3 - 0 ahead.

With so much resting on the result

Cheltenham hit straight back. After

they had secured territory in the Ross

twenty-two, the referee called the Ross

midfield offside, and Cheltenham were

level at 3 - 3 as the game entered the

second quarter.

For the next ten minutes the Ross

play was more physical. With Matt

Redman, Adam Clements and Tim

Hanks making the hard yards count

close in, and Mat Jones, Gavin Oates

and Nick Rawlings smashing the rucks,

it was only a matter of time before the

gaps in the defence appeared.

From a centre field scrum, Ross

moved the ball left, Gareth Holdsworth

drew his marker before delivering the

perfect scissors ball to Bas Parker. Bas

scythed through the gap, brushing off a

couple of tackles, before pssing the ball

to Luke Gray who cut a great line to

score under the posts. Chay Brine converted

and Ross went in at half time 10

- 3 ahead.

Not content with their lead, Ross

upped the intensity for the third quarter

and had effectively put the game beyond Cheltenham by the sixty minutemark. Again the Ross scrum was rock

solid, No 8, Mike Davies, broke from

the base, popping the ball to scrum half

James Hughes, he moved the ball to

Gareth Holdsworth who chipped the

ball over the defence. The bounce

favoured Ross, the wing Ali Hunter-

Blair collected the bouncing ball and

stepped inside his opposite winger

before accelerating clear of the cover

defence to score. Once again, Chay

Brine added the conversion and put

Ross 17 - 3 ahead.

For more on this story after the restart, see The Ross Gazette issue dated February 25th.