Ross made it two wins from two on Saturday, contributing to a try fest in Cheltenham, conceding five tries but scoring six themselves. They saw off a determined Cheltenham side with a strong first half performance.

Ross took charge of the game from the off, securing possession and territory in the visitors’ half. Within ten minutes they were ahead and some quick hands put Gavin Oates in space. His inside pass found centre Thai Hayward, who had the pace to run in the score from 30 yards out.

Aaron Ryder added the two and Ross’s early dominance saw them 7-0 ahead. Within a few minutes, they went further ahead.

Henry Tilling rose high to secure a lineout 15 yards from the home side’s line and the driving maul was too much for the home team, Josh Element crashed over to score again. Aaron added the two and Ross were 14-0 ahead.

They stretched this to 21-0 a few minutes later from a ruck five metres out. Scrum half Ben Element moved the ball to Aaron Ryder, who drew the defence before delivering a well timed pass to winger Nathan Cocker, his pace and strength saw him bounce a tackle and score under the posts, Aaron again added the two and Ross were coasting 21-0.

When the home team did secure possession, they were dangerous offloading and moving the ball out of the tackle. They started to put pressure on the Ross defence and their industriousness was rewarded as they added two late first half tries to take the score to 21-10.

However, it was Ross who had the last say of the half as winger Tom Muldowney took a quick tap penalty and caught the home side napping as he scored, seeing Ross 26-10 ahead into the break.

The second half was frenetic. Cheltenham threw everything at Ross and some poor tackling saw Cheltenham add three more tries to their tally. However Ross’ good work in the first half ensured that they were always too far away on the scoreboard and with further tries from Gavin Oates and Ben Element, Ross were able to secure a win and a bonus point with a 40-29 victory.

The Bosse interspices man of the match was captain Casey Morgan for his tireless work in defence, without which the scoreline could have been much closer.

On Saturday Ross are at home in North Midlands Cup action; a 3pm kick off against Redditch.