Ross 2nds travelled to Pershore 2nds on Saturday in a merit table league game and came away deserved winners 5-19. The Pershore side were a huge team, but from the initial scrum, Ross proved you don't have to be big to be strong. The shorter front three of Luke Ward, Tony Clement and Sam Chappell-Davies never moved an inch and Ross won all their own ball, including many of the opposition's. The line outs were vastly improved from previous weeks, with Jake Christopher and Josh Brett winning the ball and laying good platforms for rolling mauls, or passing off the top to scrum half Craig Powell. The first points came from a typical Ross scrum. Powell gathered the ball at the base of the scrum, dummied a pass and went through the gap towards the posts. He was tackled just shy of the line but superbly off-loaded to No 8 Mike Chandler, who dived in to score. Centre Tom Fuller converted.

The second half was the same as the first, with the Ross forwards dominating. From a lineout won by Christopher, a maul formed which Ross rolled towards the try line, only to be stopped illegally through the Pershore scrum half, who brought down the maul. Fuller converted the resulting penalty. From a quick tap penalty 10 yards out, Powell drew his man to pass out to prop Luke Ward to score. Fuller narrowly missed the conversion. With 10 minutes left, Pershore scored a consolation try. This was a pleasing result against a good Pershore side who had put 60 points on Ross two years ago. The Drop Inn man of the match was Jake Christopher.

For more stories in full please see this week's Ross Gazette.