Trial Match:
HARTPURY 12
DRYBROOK 21
Drybrook travelled to Hartpury to take on their development squad on an unusually warm August evening and came away with a good victory and a lot of positives to take into their opening league encounter with Newent next Saturday.
The game was played on the artificial 4G pitch, and combined with the balmy conditions, was always going to be a fast paced and often frenetic affair.
Hartpury were first out of the blocks and showed their intentions by spreading the ball wide and using their pace to make inroads into Drybrook territory. It took some resilience from the visitors to repel the Hartpury attacks with Captain Ben Large and number eight Mitch Renton putting in some big hits.
Drybrook slowly began to make headway, and a series of good drives by their pack led by the indominatable Mitch Hale, was finished off when the ever youthful Marcus Cowles crossed the line for the first points of the game. Tom Treherne had remembered to pack his kicking boots and added the conversion to take the visitors into a seven point lead.
Following some sloppy play at the restart Hartpury re-fielded the ball, and through the strong running of former Drybrook centre Robbie Faulkner, took play into the Drybrook twenty two, where despite fine defence from
returning hooker Howells and flankers Smith and Bourne, a gap was found by the Hartpury second row to cross the line near the posts, which made the conversion a simple task for their number ten Grey, to level the score at seven apiece.
A long restart kick was well followed up from Drybrook and they applied good defensive pressure on the home team, which looked to have paid dividends when their prop forward lost the ball after a big hit by Renton. The Ref however deemed that The County’s hardest rugby player had failed to correctly use his arms in the tackle, and much to the bemusement of the traveling fraternity, Renton was showed a yellow card for his misdemeanour and was banished to the side line.
A poor penalty clearance, and a turnover at the resulting lineout, kept the away team on the offensive, and after good work from Howard and Baldwin, Luke Roberts showed good strength to go over the line and with Treherne adding the extras, Drybrook were once again back in front on the scoreboard.
In typical fashion Hartpury came back hard at the visitors, and on the stroke of half time were rewarded when Grey sold a lovely dummy, and glided through to score for the home team. He was however unable to add the conversion, and the half ended with Drybrook leading fourteen points to twelve.
At the break both teams made substantial changes, the game however continued in much
the same vein, with attack and counter attack from both camps repelled by strong defence, and the scoreboard untroubled.
It was not until the final fifteen minutes that you sensed a change beginning to take place.
Greenway was putting increasing pressure on the Hartpury lineout, Stevenson was controlling things out behind and Hale and Renton were continually making ground through the weakening defence of the home team forwards.
It was from a surging run by man of the match Mitch Hale that Drybrook took play to their opponent’s line, and were unlucky to have a try disallowed for accidental obstruction.
The home team were becoming frustrated at their own inability to break down the visitors defence, and began giving away soft penalties and turnovers as their game plan failed to repay any rewards.
The game entered the final minutes with Drybrook on top, and it was not long before Greenway broke from a maul near the Hartpury line, to stretch out his big paw and dap the ball down for the final try of the game.
With Treherne again adding the extra two points Drybrook gained a well-deserved 21 – 12 victory.
Drybrook – M.Hale, A.Howells, D.Jelf, M.Cowles, J.Pritchard, T.Smith, F.Bourne, M.Renton, T.Treherne, A.Milner, M.Baldwin, B.Large, H.Howard, L.Roberts, R.Gardner, C.Guest, L.Boon, W.Greenway, S.Peaper, B.George, T.Stevenson, D.McNamara.
