Drybrook 1st XV 34pts
Old Patesians 1st XV 20pts
On a dour afternoon with the morning rain just passing on towards Gloucester Drybrook faced bottom of the table Old Pats in what turned out to be a hard fought victory. The first half was notable in only being remembered for the amount of times the ref stopped play for one reason or another.
Old Pats kicked off towards the clubhouse with the slight wind in their advantage. On five minutes they used their heavy forwards to gain field position in the Drybrook twenty two where they were awarded a penalty at the breakdown. The Old pats winger made no mistake with the easy penalty and the visitors took the lead.
Drybrooks frustration rose a level when they wasted a promising position on the away team’s five metre line after Mitch Bourne took matters into his own hands after Pat’s had slowed down the ball at the ruck. The penalty was reversed and Bourne was given a yellow.
The game continued in stop start fashion until the thirtieth minute when Drybrook were awarded a penalty on halfway which Stevenson kicked to touch five metres from the visitor’s line on the right hand side. The lineout ball was driven forward by Mitch Hale before being released to the backs. Stevenson created space with a long pass out to Ollie Moore who drew the last defender before passing to Mitch Baldwin who dived over the line to open Drybrook’s account. Stevenson added the difficult conversion and it looked as though the home
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team would lead going into the break.
The next series of events were bizarre to say the least. Firstly it looked as though Baldwin had scored his second after taking the ball short off Stevenson to go in under the posts. The ref however deemed that crossing had taken place and awarded Pats a penalty instead, much to the amazement of players and supporters alike. Pat’s worked their way downfield and following a five metre lineout their number seven crossed the line but lost the ball, their number thirteen jumped on the ball and claimed the try. The ref signalled that the ball had been lost forward but then said the ball had been held up despite not one Drybrook player being involved in the incident. Pat’s drove the ball over the line from the resulting scrum and kicked the conversion to lead ten seven at the break.
Whatever was said in the Drybrook dressing room at half time certainly had the desired effect as the team that came out for the second half barely resembled the one that had played the first forty.
Drybrook kicked long and Old Pat’s made the mistake of taking the ball back into their twenty two before kicking to touch, resulting in a Drybrook throw in an attacking position. From the next play Drybrook were awarded a penalty which they opted to kick to the corner. The ball was thrown long and driven in field, a short pass from the back of the ruck found Captain Ben Large who took the ball at pace to crash over
near the posts.
Stevenson drop kicked the conversion and Drybrook retook the lead.
Drybrook continued to press and following another five metre lineout the ball was moved quickly through the hands where Luke Roberts took the final pass to fly in on the right.
On twenty minutes Pat’s reduced the deficit with a penalty from their winger which was cancelled out by a Stevenson effort four minutes later.
On twenty seven minutes Drybrook scored their best try. Large, Seville and Renton all made good ground before the ball was recycled and moved to the left where replacement hooker Carl Guest was on hand to barge over for the bonus point score.
Three minutes later scrumhalf James Clancy threw a dummy and scored Drybrook’s fifth.
There was still time left for Pats to grab a consolation try and conversion when Drybrook lost concentration at the scrum but in the end Drybrook were well deserved victors. It might not have been the overall performance they were looking for but a five point haul is still a good return in this league. A job well done before the boys go to Barnstable in a fortnight’s time.
Drive on Dry!
Drybrook: O Moore, M Baldwin, D Price, B Large (Capt) L Roberts, T Stevenson, J Clancy, R Seville, A Stretch , M Hale, W Greenway, M Renton, S Peaper, K Frowen, M Bourne, A Stretch, B Watts.
