After some sterling work on the pitch by Nick Rawlings, Brian Harris and Ian Phillips, Ross came away from their home game against Minchinhampton in Gloucester Division 2 League on Saturday with an 18-3 win.

Ross nearly scored from the kick off, with winger Tom Muldowney’s challenge in the air seeing the ball bounce kindly into his hands. However with the try line beckoning the referee adjudged a knock on by Tom.

The visitors then took charge with their much larger pack establishing dominance at scrum time. This led to the visitors taking the lead from a scrum penalty converted by their outside half. Minchinhampton was 3-0 ahead.

The Ross players, to their credit, hit straight back with some strong ball carrying, by first, Ali Rees and then Campbell put them on the front foot. Ben Element got the ball away quickly to Huw Bellamy; with the defence up quick he put in a sublime kick through. This evaded the Minchinhampton fullback.

Ali Rees was there first to snare the ball and delivered a great offload for Huw Bellamy to score. Thai Hayward converted and Ross were 7-3 ahead. Ross continued to look the better side for the remainder of the half but it was the trusty boot of Thai Hayward that added another penalty to take them into half time as 10-3 leaders.

The Ross scrum was much improved in the second half with Louis Morgan, Dave Green and debutant, Tim Jefferies turning the tables and putting some pressure on a, now tiring, Minchinhampton pack. However, Ross were not able to put enough phases of play together to break down the well organised Minchinhampton defence.

Another Thai penalty saw Ross move 13-3 ahead, but it was not until the last five minutes that Ross finally added another try. Chris Price broke clear on the halfway and a quick ruck ball saw Josh Element take the ball into the Minchinhampton twenty-two.

Ben moved the ball to Huw who drew the advancing defenders, before a well -timed pass to Casey Morgan saw him burst through a gap in space. He then arced outside the defence to score in the corner. This was the clinching score, putting Ross 18-3 clear.

The Safety Shack Man of the match was number eight Campbell who put in another great performance in the loose. On Saturday Ross are again playing at home to local rivals Westbury with a 2.30pm kick off at Greytree.