Ross battled both a determined Spartans and the weather last Saturday, and a late Casey Morgan try was enough to see Ross home 14-10 winners.

With the rain blowing in horizontal it was always going to be an attritional contest as both sides looked for the victory that would add momentum to their promotion aspirations. The conditions prevented fast flowing rugby and with both defences showing no weaknesses it was territory that was the key. Ross held the territorial advantage in the first half utilising the wind in their favour and with scoring opportunities at a premium it was left to scrum half Craig Powell to calmly slot three penalties to Spartans one, so with ten minutes to half time Ross were 9-3 to the good, however a defensive lapse saw Spartans skip through to score under the posts and they went into half time 10-9 ahead. With the wind in their faces it was going to be a huge task for Ross to prevent Spartans adding to their total in the second half, however their defence led by Dave Green, Chris Thomas and Gavin Oates was immense and Spartans could not turn their territorial advantage into points. In the scrum Ross found an advantage and exploited that brilliantly in the second half, preventing the visitors delivering any good ball for them to attack with. As the game moved to a close Ross launched one last effort, once again a it was a great scrum that saw them turn over Spartans ball, the ball was quickly moved left through the hands of Eddie Ruck to Dan Field to Craig Smith, he cut inside the defence but was tackled on the twenty two, however a deft offload kept the ball alive and with the visitors defence for once at sixes and sevens, Casey Morgan dived over in the corner to score, the touchline conversion was missed but Ross hung on to register another important league victory.

The GKC Motors Man of the match was Dave Green for a dominant performance.

Next Saturday Ross 1sts are away at St Brendans, Bristol with the 2nds in league action at home versus Redditch 2nds, a 2.30pm kick off.

Keep upto date by visiting their website http://www.rossrugby.co.uk">www.rossrugby.co.uk

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