Stourbridge lions 17- Ross on Wye 2nds 17

  A young Ross 2nds team earned themselves a hard fought away league point on Saturday against a very experienced Stourbridge outfit,coming away with a creditable 17-17 draw.In very blustery conditions Stourbridge opted to play against the wind in the first half,this ensured Ross had a lot of territory deep in the Stourbridge half,however the windy conditions meant the lineout for both sides was very difficult,however the Ross scrum held up well with Luke Ward giving his opposite number a difficult day at the office.It was from a Luke Ward run that Ross opened their account,after taking a pass from scrum half Ian Phillips he bumped off two tackles before being finally brought down 10 yards from the try line,quick hands by Sam Griffiths and Tom Muldowney gave fly half Gareth Holdsworth just enough space to dive and score in the corner,a great touchline conversion from fullback Tom Harris put Ross 7-0 ahead.With the wind in their faces Stourbridge kept the ball in hand and looked dangerous however some great tackling from Lee Clements and Dave Mince kept Stourbridge at bay,this hard work however was undone late in the half when Ross were penalsed twice in a minutes,from the last infringement Stourbridge crashed over to score giving a half time score of Stourbridge 5 Ross 7.

  With a strong wind now in their faces Ross kept ball in hand in the 2^nd half and after some strong running by Dave Lawrence then Pete Smith saw prop Luke Ward crash through two tackles to score,this put Ross 12-5 ahead,almost immediately though Stourbridge hit back with a converted score of their own and with 10 minutes remaining it was 12 all,and the game was in the balance,this young Ross side showed no fear and once again some great hands from Gavin Oates put Gareth holdsworth clear to score putting Ross 17-12 in front,the home team piled the pressure on in the last few minutes and eventually Ross ran out of brave tacklers and the home team scored wide out on the right,justice was served as they missed the conversion and Ross had earned themselves a creditable draw against a top three side.

The Hagesud Bosse man of the match was Luke Ward for a great all round display.