Ross on wye 5  Gloucester Old Boys 11

   Ross came up short again last Saturday against a big Glos Old boys outfit who did just enough to leave Ross with a win,leaving Ross with a mountain to climb to avoid relegation at the end of the season.From the offset Ross found it difficult to get their hands on the ball,the big Glos pack kept the ball tight and were content to rumble the ball off the back of rucks and mauls,never making much yardage but retaining possession and making Ross complete a huge number of tackles throughout the first half,it was inevitable that with the amount of possession the visitors enjoyed it was they who took the lead,Ross conceded a penalty just outside their twenty two and he Glos number 10 converted putting the visitors 3-0 ahead,the pattern of play continued with the visitors keeping hold of the ball for long periods this led to more Ross infringements ,from a penalty 10 yards out Glos elected to kick for position and secured a lineout 5 yards from the Ross line,initially Ross repelled the catch and drive however the visitors re-set another maul and they crashed over to score,putting them 8-0 ahead.with ten minutes still to go to half time it looked as if the visitors would add another score and take the game away from Ross by half time however Ross struck back in spectacular style,from a glos attack deep in the Ross half the ball was spilled forward Gareth holdsworth was the  first to react and secured the ball he immediately looked to attack,drawing the glos defence before delivering a well timed pass to centre Dan Field he cut inside the oncoming defence and passed inside to centre partner Chay Brine who outpaced the cover defence to score a great try,this saw Ross go into half time 8-5 behind.

Ross new that if they could secure enough good ball in the second half they could run the big glos pack around and space would open up for the home sides back line,Glos however were not keen on being so generous and in the third quarter it took an herculean defensive effort to keep glos out as they camped on the Ross line for what seemed like an age,however to a man the whole Ross team put their bodies on the line and Glos went away with nothing,as the game entered the final quarter it was anyones game,when they secured possession they moved the ball and Craig Smith nearly managed to latch onto a cross kick ,and centres Dan Field and Chay Brine looked dangerous whenever they had ball in space,with 10 minutes to go Glos landed a long range penalty which meant Ross had to score a converted try to win.in the last 5 minutes they threw everything at the visitors however the Glos defence held firm and the final whistle saw then home 11-5.