Cleve (home) 6th December 2014

South West 1 (west)
Drybrook 7pts
Cleve 27pts

Drybrook slipped to a fourth defeat on the trot, this time to league leaders Cleve who proved to be a very well organised and efficient team.
Once again Drybrook’s inability to turn pressure into points cost them dearly but the Cleve defence was probably the best they have faced this term.
Drybrook had a great chance in the opening minutes when second row Will Greenway found himself in space with a man outside him on the overlap but he could not get his pass away and the chance went begging.
Play then settled down in midfield for a period until Cleve gradually got on top and with 16 minutes gone they scored their opening try.
Moving the ball right then left Cleve eventually created an overlap and squeezed in at the corner.
Minutes later Drybrook were caught offside and the resulting penalty put the visitors 8pts – nil up.
Both teams then had a man yellow carded following a scuffle but Cleve remained on top and forced a line out near the home line which resulted in a try down the short side.
At the end of the half a lot of Drybrook pressure came to nothing and Cleve lost another man to the bin for taking a player out in the air.

Half Time:
Drybrook nil
Cleve 15pts

10 minutes into the second half Cleve grabbed another try, this time from a catch and drive lineout and things began to look ominous for the home team.
Fortunately Drybrook rallied strongly and put a lot of pressure on Cleve which resulted in another visiting player being sent to the bin.
Despite battering away Drybrook had nothing to show for their efforts and Cleve hit back with the bonus point try when they exploited some weak defence in the right hand corner.
Another Cleve yellow card gave Drybrook some hope but their defence was solid and they were able to hold out until back up to 15 men.
Drybrook deserved something from the game and eventually got their reward when they took a Cleve scrum against the head and No 8 Mitch Bourne got the pushover try.
Alan Richards converted and in the last minutes it was all Drybrook as Cleve began to fall foul of referee Charlie Gayther who issued a fifth yellow card a minute from the end.
Despite defeat there were a lot of good aspects to Drybrook’s performance not least of which was the forward platform which gave them a plentiful supply of ball. Scrum half Mitch Baldwin looked sharp throughout and made a number of sniping runs whilst Mitch Bourne also turned in another strong performance.

Drybrook; Tom Treherne, Simon Rugman, Ben Large (capt), Jack Simmons, Sam Peaper, Alan Richards, Mitch Baldwin, Craig Clarke, Luke Fisher, Elliot White, Will Greenway, Glenn Nott, Danny Price, Mitch Bourne, Mitch Renton.
Replacements; Marcus Cowles, Ashley Howells, Dean Jelf.

Gloucestershire Reserve League Premier

Dings Crusaders Druids 26pts
Drybrook United 0pts

It is always a tough game at Dings and Drybrook found this to be the case when the travelled to Bristol to face the reigning champions.
Drybrook started well and pressed Dings from the off in what was a very physical game. Dings opened the scoring with a long range converted try score but Drybrook were unlucky not to get on the score sheet themselves with Andy Milner missing 4 first half penalties.
Just before the break Dings extended their lead with another converted try, this time from a driven line out, to lead by 14pts – nil.
Drybrook battled throughout the 2nd half and were held up over the line off a maul as well as missing another penalty.
Dings capitalised on a Drybrook mistake and ran in a try from half way but the visitors kept going and spent an impressive amount of time camped in the Ding’s 22 metre area.
Drybrook just could not break through and in the last 10 minutes they were forced to defend gallantly with tackle after tackle but eventually Dings got through again.
This was a good team performance despite the result with every player giving everything and putting bodies on the line. Man of the match performances were by Nick Lewis playing out of position in the back row who ran some hard lines and tackled well. Ciaran Barcoe at fullback, making his 1st start, looked sharp and really got stuck in. Mitch Hale had his customary good game at prop.

Drybrook United XV; Ciaran Barcoe, Jay Knight, Gareth Holdsworth, Matt Freeman, Jack Freeman,Andy Milner (capt), Kieran Auker-Howlett, Mitch Hale, Connor Auker-Howlett, Tony Suter, Joe James, Iain Murphy, Nick Lewis, Connor Hale, Jim Rugman.
Replacements; James Meek, Grant Holdsworth

Gloucestershire Reserve League North 2

Drybrook Extras 28pts
Longlevens 2nds 49pts

Table topping Longleven s arrived at the Mannings without a front row so once again a game this opposition had to have uncontested scrums from the off.
With Drybrook’s most potent weapon nullified and their lineout mal-functioning the youthful Longlevens outfit took full advantage to run in several long range tries.
The fact that Drybrook’s Ben Warren was also dismissed early in the game did little to help their cause but the player will feel particularly hard done by after an error from the match referee.
When Drybrook did secure some good ball they were more than a match for the visitors and they scored four tries themselves with impressive standoff Rhys Evans getting 2 and Jack Davies and Chris Tingle bagging the others.
Evans added all 4 conversions for Drybrook who were well served by Adam Harris and Jake Bourne who were making their senior debuts for the club.

Drybrook Extras XV; Luke Roberts, Jake Bourne, Steve Williams, Tony Hussey, Jack Davies, Jimmy Ryder, Steve Virgo (capt), Andy Warren, Craig Lancett, Jon Mustoe, Chris Skelton, Chris Tingle, Ben Warren, Richard Roberts.
Replacements; Adam Harris, James Ellway,Clive Boughton, Danny Bullock.