Kingswood 13 - Ross on Wye 8
After a poor start to the season which had resulted in only a solitary win against top of the table Brockworth,Ross were hoping for a morale boosting win at Kingswood last Saturday,and but for a poor refereeing decision which saw Sam Griffiths’ try ruled out because the referee was unsighted,they would have come away with an hard fought victory,however the dis allowed try and a raft of missed opportunities meant that they had to be satisfied with a losing bonus point.
A couple of late withdrawels had resulted in some last minute team changes,with centre Casey Morgan stepping in at hooker,this did not seem to have an effect as Ross started brightly,looking dangerous when they moved the ball quickly through the hands,and it was from such an attack that Ross opened the scoring,after a turnover in midfield Ross quickly moved the ball right,with both backs and forwards involved,as they moved into the Kingswood twenty two the ball went loose,but Craig Powell was the first to react chipping the ball towards the try line,centre Huw Bellamy outpaced the cover defence and in one movement collected the bobbling ball and dived over the line to score ,Casey Morgan could not add the conversion but Ross were 5-0 ahead.The home team came charging back and within 5 minutes had drawn level,with a try after a driving lineout had taken them to within 3 yards of the Ross line,again the conversion was missed and the score was 5-5.Ross continued to look threatening when the game broke up with Gareth Holdsworth and Chay Brine proving a handful for the home defence.Ross should have gone ahad on the half hour,some strong running by first Dave Mince then Adam Clements set up quick ball 30 yards out some quick hands from Gavin Oates and Matt Redman put winger Sam Griifiths away and he crashed through a last ditch tackle to scor wide out on the right,the referee however was unsighted and instead of awarding the try,gave Ross a 5 metre scrum as he did not see the grounding,this injustice proved even more cruel as half time approached when a speculative clearing kick bounced kindly for the Kingswood centre who scored in the corner,so at the break Ross found themselves 10-5 down.
Ross continued to look to move the ballthroughout the second half and nearly brought themselves level after 60 minutes,once again some strong running from Gavin Oates and Luke Ward saw Ross develop some possession in the Kingswood half,Craig Powell moved the ball to the left and Chay Brine found his centre Gareth Holdsworth who was brought down a yard short of the line,from the ensuing ruck Ross were penalised and Kingswood where able to relieve the pressure,Ross continued to press and after some great approach work from Chay Brine and Adam Clements,they forced a penalty twenty five yards out,Casey Morgan stepped up and converted bring the score to 10-8 to Kingswood,with 10 minutes remaining Ross went all out for that winning score however the home defence held firm and a late penalty saw Kingswood home 13-8 victors.
The Hagusud Bosse Man of the match was Chay Brine who posed a threat everytime he had the ball.
Next Saturday 19th November Ross are at home to local rivals Newent down at the Sports centre kick off 2.30pm.