Ross suffered their first league defeat since early December against a committed Dursley side recently when they lost 31-12, but stay in the top two automatic promotion places. With five teams in the hunt it is going to be a nail biting run into the end of the season.

Ross made too many basic errors in the first quarter, whether it was losing possession or missed tackles, and this gave mid-table Dursley the confidence they needed and they quickly took a 12-0 lead.

Ross slowly worked themselves back into the game in the second quarter.

They managed to keep possession better and built pressure on the Dursley defence and were rewarded with two quick scores of their own.

Firstly, Josh Element scored from a set play off a line out, they almost scored from the restart.

Panic in the home defence saw the ball go loose in their twenty two and Jonnie Baynham was the first to react and collect the loose ball to score. Thai Hayward converted the latter score and Ross were back level at 12-12.

The third quarter after the break mirrored the first, Ross made too many errors and once again Dursley took advantage, and a try and a penalty saw them open up a 22-12 lead.

The critical part of the game was around fifty minutes in, Ross spent ten minutes in the Dursley twenty two and it seemed inevitable that Ross would come away with a score to bring the scoreline back to 22-19.

However, the Dursley defence were both brave and committed and managed to stop members of the Ross side from scoring.

They held out and eventually cleared their lines and the chance for a Ross-on-Wye comeback faded.

A late try and penalty put the gloss on the scoreline for Dursley, but Ross accepted they were second best too often during the game, and will have to dust themselves down quickly as they are back in league action on Saturday at home, 2.30pm kick off to North Bristol.