Ross edged a hard fought encounter recently against promotion rivals, Old Cryptians.

With Cirencester losing to Cheltenham north, Ross opened up a nine point gap to third place Cirencester as they chase one of the top two automatic promotion places.

The result of this game was critical for both sides and the first quarter as a result was a nervy affair, however it was Ross who eventually opened the scoring as lock forward, Chris Price, barged through two tackles and had enough momentum to get the ball down on the try line. Thai Hayward converted and Ross were 7-0 ahead.

A penalty from Thai Hayward saw Ross go into the break 10-0 to the good. The visitors hit back straight after the break with a converted score. At 10-7 it was game on for both sides.

Finally, at the end of the third quarter, Ross pushed further ahead.

Thai Hayward kicked for the corner giving Ross a five metre lineout and Josh Walker rose to take the ball offloaded to Casey Morgan who fed Josh Element who crashed over to score. Thai could not add the two but Ross were 15-7 ahead.

Cryptians tried to hit back but the Ross defence, to a man, held firm and Ross put the icing on the cake with a late Bas Parker score to see Ross home with a 22-7 victory.

The Perfect Choice man of the match was number eight, Dale Brooke, who carried the ball tirelessly into the heart of the visitor defence.See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.