Ross-on-Wye RFC 1sts progressed to a semi final against Westbury after a hard earned victory over a well drilled Newent side. Neither side was able to stamp their authority on proceedings early on; errors were the order of the day and as a result neither side was able to exert enough pressure on their opponents and break down two very well organised defences.

It was still 0-0 after 30 minutes when the game finally came to life with a brilliant solo try from Ross captain Casey Morgan. Newent had a lineout on the Ross ten metre line, they overthrew it and Casey scooped the ball out of the air and accelerated through the lineout before out pacing the Newent winger to score a sixty metre individual try. Thai Hayward added a touchline conversion and Ross were 7-0 ahead. He then added a penalty late in the half and even though the half had been relatively evenly contested, Ross went in at the break 10-0 to the good.

Newent knew they had to score next and started the second half with intent; they were quickly deep in the Ross twenty two and it seemed only a matter of time before they scored, when a great piece of tackling by Chris Price saw Newent concede a penalty and Ross cleared their lines.

The try of the match came soon after, putting the tie out of Newent’s reach. From a scrum deep in the Ross twenty two, Number Eight broke from the back of the scrum, setting up a ruck on the Ross twenty two. Quick hands from Chris Price and Josh Element put centre Dan Field clear and his pace saw him into the Newent half when a well timed pass, which put centre partner Thai Hayward clear. He then ran in a try from forty yards. This put Ross 15-0 ahead.

The icing on the cake came in the last five minutes with another well worked score, a strong scrum set up play on the Newent ten yard line. The ball was moved to fly half Huw Bellamy, a strong run from Josh Morgan held the defence, Bellamy found Thai Hayward in space and his pass to winger Billy Hambling saw Billy outpace the cover defence to score, seeing Ross home comfortable 20-0 winners.

There were a number of good performances, but man of the match for a strong scrimmaging display was Johnnie Baynham.

On Saturday, Ross are back in league action, looking to cement third place in the league with an away trip to Bristol Aero. Kick off is at 3pm.