Fightback is in vain as Pats fall to home defeat
ALATE Old Patesians fightback was to no avail as they went down 22-15 to Keynsham at Everest Road.
In the first half with the wind and slope in their favour, the Keynsham scrum was dominant and they scored a converted pushover try.
Then, from another scrum on the line they added an unconverted score and a set piece throw in to the front of the line saw Keynsham break away down the touchline to score in the corner
The conversion made the score 19-0 at half-time.
In the second half, Pats made great use of the wind and slope putting a lot of pressure on the Keynsham line but could not break through.
Keynsham added a penalty to make it 22-0 but Pats hit back with tries from Josh Jenson and Lee Hathaway, one of which was converted by Marcus Raymond.
In the last five minutes Pats kicked a penalty through Raymond, giving them a losing bonus point.
Stow were knocked off the top of Southern Counties North after their 20-12 defeat at Aylesbury.
A disallowed try to Aylesbury early in the game, followed by a yellow card to Alex King set the scene for a tough day at the office.
Stow followed this early setback with a good period of sustained pressure and good ball retention, leading to a try scored by Jamie Gibbs, converted by Tom Eddolls.
They survived the yellow card period, but then conceded a try which Aylesbury failed to convert, leaving them 7-5 in front.
But a penalty for poor discipline at a breakdown gave Aylesbury a one-point lead, before they lost a player to the bin for repeated infringements.
This seemed to galvanise Stow for a short period and ended up with a Jake Collett try, taking the score to 12-8, before a further Aylesbury try ended the half at 13-12 in Aylesbury’s favour probably a fair reflection of the half.
While Stow were certainly still well in the fight, individuals were struggling to fire and they lacked depth in attack with support runners often too slow to get into spaces for offloads or to the breakdown to ensure quick ball or ball retention.
Stow were consistently second best at the breakdown and gave Aylesbury too much time and space to run at them.
A further converted try by Ayelsbury put the losing bonus point out of our reach despite two penalty attempts late in the game to try and salvage something from the afternoon.
Josh Claxton scored a hat-trick as Matson made it 13 wins from 13 in Western Counties North, shutting out Cheltenham North 33-0.
Claxton scored the first two tries, both converted by Farrell Gwilliam, then Tom Porter crossed with Gwilliam converting, as Matson led 21-0 at half-time.
Claxton’s hat-trick try was converted by Gwilliam before Fergus Jones’ try rounded off the scoring.
Cheltenham are 11 points behind Matson after their 24-19 win at Midsomer Norton.
Midsomer Norton were unbeaten at Norton Down but Cheltenham took a early lead with an unconverted Dan Spencer-tonks try.
Norton were award a penalty try to lead 7-5 with Cheltenham’s Ben Oliver shown a yellow card.
Cheltenham retook the lead with a Joe Warner try with a fine touchline conversion from Curtis Neal but Midsomer Norton reduced the deficit before half-time with a Ben Taylor penalty.
After 50 minutes Taylor kicked his second penalty and their lead extended to 19-12 with Taylor kicking another penalty.
Cheltenham upped their game and were rewarded with a try for Flin Roberts and again Neal mastered the windy conditions with a conversion to tie the score at 19-19.
Cheltenham lay seige to the home side’s tryline with Spencer-tonks crossing for an unconverted try to win this hard fought tussle.
Chosen Hill Former Pupils a further eight points back in third after they won 35-3 at Clevedon.
They scored five tries, through Josh Bailey, Will Allenby (two), Harry Matthews and Dery Sausman, the everreliable Andy King converting all of them.
In Gloucester Premier, Joe Langbridge inspired a 13-7 Old Cryptians win at Cheltenham Saracens.
Langbridge kicked a penalty before Saracens led 7-3 at half-time with a converted try.
But a Langbridge try, which he converted and a second penalty turned the game round in the second half.
Smiths Rugby lead Gloucestershire One North division by 13 points but the battle for second is tight with five points covering second to seventh.
Smiths won 31-28 at Widden Old Boys as Duncan Spurrier, Ben Hawker, Sam Coles and Charles Peters all scored tries, which were all converted by Tom Wardell, who also kicked a penalty.
Jordan Walker kicked 23 of Widden Old Boys’ points, Paddy Joyce scoring their sole try.
Berry Hill are second after beating third-placed Old Centralians II 20-14 with tries from Chris Watkins, Ben Lewis, Duncan Adams and Brandon Jacobs, with Kieran Bevan and Craig Hoare’s tries for Cents being converted by Alex Cox.
Brockworth are fourth after their 40-11 win over Matson II, with tries scored by Alfie Burns (two), Jake Byrne, Kurtis Herbert, Alex Fisher and
Scott Aherne, Herbert converting four and Fisher one.
The sole Matson try came from Thomas Dobbs with two penalties for Finlay Young.
Ben Casey, Dave Freeman and Rhys Gardner scored for fifth-placed Drybrook II in their 22-0 win over Fairford, Andy Milner kicking the rest of the points.
Sixth-placed Gordon League also had a shutout win, 47-0 at bottom side Chosen Hill FP II.
Brad Overthrow, Ciarnan Sysum, Billy Trigg, Kaian Buhagair, Gavin Rea, Conor Roberts and Josh Portercrossed for tries, with Jake Hanley converting six of them.
In seventh are Gloucester Old Boys, 30-14 winners at Cirencester.
There were two tries for Spencer Miller, and one each for Andy Fearn and Niall Galvin and two conversion and two penalties for James Murphy.
Cheltenham Civil Service lead Gloucestershire Two North by six points after their 40-12 win over Painswick.
Oliver Wilton (two), Jack Gascoyne, Dan Bailey, Tim Davies and Ross Ruck scored their tries with four conversions for Will Markey and one for Gascoyne.
For Painswick, Oli Hall and Nick Rogers scored tries, one converted by Craig Mayo.
Bredon Star are up to second after beating Stroud 28-12.
Brad Stubbs, Jack Dowdeswell, Xander Seddon and Rich Clive scored their tries, all converted by Dowdeswell. Minchinhampton had a bonus-point 22-10 win over Cheltenham II with two tries for Jonny Acton and one apiece for Max Coniam and Joe Medd-finn, who also kicked a conversion.
Bottom side Newent II went down 23-0 to Norton, who scored tries through Harvey Cooke, Callum Treacher and Ross Stevens, whose boot supplied the rest of their points.
Old Cryptians II had a walkover win against Old Patesians II.