Longlevens 17 - Ross on Wye 22 PROMOTION to Gloucester Premier Division moved ever closer for Ross after they won 22 -17 last Saturday, away to

Longlevens, cementing themselves in second place and automatic promotion.

This was a hard fought victory for Ross, the game was far to often punctuated by the referee's whistle, and as a consequence it was a very stop-star affair. However, in the final analysis Ross had too much experience and individual talent for Longlevens and they fully deserved their win. It was the home team that opened the brightest, establishing some early territory. Ross fell foul of the referee's whistle early on, and, when one of those penalties proved kickable, Longlevens opened

up a 3 - 0 lead. Ross weathered the rest of the opening quarter and soon took the lead. After securing quality ball at the scrum, Number 8, Mike Davies, broke left, from the ruck. Matt Redman took the ball on into midfield, and scrum-half, James Hughes, then moved it to outside-half, Gareth Holdsworth. With the Longlevens defence up quick he chipped the ball into space. Left wing, Ali Hunter Blair, was the first to the ball, hacking it over the line, before winning the race to touch down and score. Chay Brine converted and Ross were 7 - 3 ahead. Neither team was able to create any momentum for the rest of the first half, and with both teams adding a penalty apiece, the half time score was 10 - 6 to Ross.

See The Ross Gazette issue dated March 18th for more information