Champions Trio at the try double as Old Boys complete title success
GLOUCESTER Old Boys swept Ross-on-wye aside to clinch the Counties 3 Gloucestershire North title, with a 46-0 success.
There were two tries apiece for Jamie Fairs, Tig Galvin and man of the match Owen O’keeffe as well as scores for Liam Aherne and Sol Johnson, with two conversions for Taylor Unett and one for Galvin.
That leaves Old Boys eight points clear of second-placed Bredon Star, with a game to play.
Star were 69-10 winners over Minchinhampton, with a hat-trick for Matty Peters and two tries each for Will Wilson, Jasper Minion and Lawson Day, with one for Jake Carolan and Reece Dickenson, Jack Dowdeswell with seven conversions.
Will Ferrand scored Minch’s try, converted by Ben Pope, who also kicked a penalty.
Matson II beat Painswick 39-0, with two tries each for John Freeman and Jordan Woodhouse, and one apiece for Mark Brown and Spencer Bell, Brooke Turner with the extras.
Elsewhere, Cheltenham Saracens beat Chosen Hill FP II 51-22 and Longlevens II were 28-22 winners over Tewkesbury.
Stow-on-the-wold’s hopes of winning Regional 2 Midlands West are over after they lost 32-17 at Silhillians, who claim the title.
Jamie Gibbs, Andrew Piercy and Zeb Waite scord the Corns tries, with a conversion for Ollie Clements, but they will finish second.
Fourth met third at Newlands Park as Cheltenham edged out Newent 17-10.
Newent took the game to Cheltenham and Tom Webb missed two penalty chances and they also felt Jack Devries had got over for a try.
But when another attack was halted illegally with overzealous defence by the home side and in tackling Harry Tovey without the ball, the referee awarded a penalty try.
Then Cheltenham were penalised on 26 minutes for a technical offence in the scrum and Webb secured the points to stretch the lead to 10-0 as Cheltenham lost a player to the bin.
Cheltenham started the second half looking like a different side with Newent paying the price for some poor kicking.
Newent were reduced to 14 as Jordan Devries was sent to the bin, and soon after scrum half Stan Fowkes-underhill found space on the blind side and darted in for the score.
Cheltenham piled on the pressure and Richard Athey straightened beautifully to score under the posts with Curtis Neal adding the conversion for a 12-10 lead.
Cheltenham had pace on the wings and spun the ball wide to Ryan Cengiz on halfway in space and the speedster set sail for the line, beating two covering defenders to cross in the corner as Cheltenham took the spoils.
The Counties 1 Western North title is on a knife-edge as Cinderford United beat leaders Longlevens 28-14.
United sit eight points behind with two games in hand, the first against Clifton II tonight (Thursday).
There was a minute’s silence before the match in memory of Keith Bell, a highly-regarded figure at the Cinderford club, with Tom Anderson, Hugo Murray and Tom Reynolds scoring their tries, Joe Langbridge kicking two conversions and three penalties.
Gordon League and Old Patesians kept the Counties 2 Gloucestershire North title race bubbling ahead of their clash on April 6.
Ryan Carter and Kaian Buhagiar scored hat-tricks in League’s 61-12 win over Old Cryptians, Rob Jones, Ben Gamston, Josh Porter, Will Richards and Ashley Kocerhan with the other tries, with conversions from Connor King, Ashley Kocerhan, and Luke Mcmahon. Jerome Vidgen and Rob Trigg scored for Crypts, with a conversion for Ryan Preedy.
Pats were pushed all the way by a dogged Coney Hill, winning 14-10 thanks to tries for Joe Mcdean and Aaron Shakeshaft, Sam Rhymes with two conversions, Ashley Lewis and Jaden Astle crossing for Hill.
League are eight points clear of Pats, who need two bonus-point wins to overhaul them - and need to stop League getting a bonus point when they meet.
Cheltenham North beat Smiths Rugby 38-22, Sam Wilson, Jamie Penton and Dan Jarvis crossing for Smiths, Marcus Raymond with two conversions and a penalty, while Stroud beat Hucclecote 44-22.
Dean Tattersall scored a hat-trick, with two tries each for Conor Horlock and Sam Hester, Joe Ashenford kicking three conversions and a penalty.
Brad Harris, Aiden Humphries and Jon Hogg crossed for Cote, Harris with two conversions and a penalty.
Old Richians edged out Cirencester 14-12 with tries for Tom Mills and Archie Mould, improved by Tommy Woodward, with Darren Nolloth and Sean O’neill scoring for Richians, the extras from Jamie Mayall.
Bream need two bonus-point wins to take the Counties 2 Gloucestershire South title after their 29-24 loss to Old Colstonians.
They trail Dings Crusaders II, who have one game left, by four points so need maximum hauls from trips to Whitehall and Bristol Saracens to overtake them.
Duncan Adams, Nathan Thompson Lee, Ben Joner Jones and Aaron Ryder scored their tries, Ryder with two conversions
Berry Hill beat Bristol Saracens 44-21, Chris Price, Rich Hobbs (two), Ben Element (plus four conversions and two penalties) and Jake Powles their try scorers.
Dursley lost 23-13 at Frampton Cotterell despite tries for Calum Sweeney and Tyrone Chappell, and a penalty from Charlie Davison.
Matson will finish ninth or 10th in Regional 1 South West after losing 41-0 at Chew Valley, and must wait on how many sides will go down.
Their final game is at home to champions Devonport Services, who clinched the title after a hard-fought 24-20 win at Lydney.
The Severnsiders went 10-0 down but when they won a penalty just outside the 22, Brad Barnes opted to kick and slot the kick for 10-3.
Then a breakout from their own half saw the hosts cross halfway with a run from prop Rowan Mullis, with the ball spun out Alex Nelmes broke the defensive line, but tackled short, he offloaded to Brad Dunn who scored in the corner and Barnes added a superb touchline kick to level the scores.
Services crossed again before halftime after a yellow card for Rowan Mullis, but playing with the strong wind Lydney started the second period strongly, and after winning a penalty on halfway, Barnes opted for a monster kick, which the wind helped carry over for 17-13.
Devonport crossed again to make it 24-13 , then after a minor scuffle the official awarded a yellow to each side.
From the penalty, the superb kicking of Barnes saw the ball find touch 5m out. The resulting forward drive was stopped short, Henry Sleeman picked up and scored, Barnes faultless with the kick - and they spurned two glorious chances to win the game.
Old Centralians can clinch second place in Regional 2 Severn with a win in their final game after a 40-17 win over Gordano.
Mike Mathers, Luke Forsythe, Lewis May, Tom Darby (two) and Sol Farrer scored their tries, with conversions for Harry Preece (four) and Jevon Brown.
Drybrook were beaten 33-3 at home by champions Royal Wootton Bassett, while Chosen Hill were 36-33 winners over Trowbridge, David Gamble with four tries, and Alex Jackson and Jasper Frost with one each, Andy King converting three.
Counties 3 Dorset & Wilts North champions Fairford were 24-19 winners over Swindon II with tries for Tom Jenkins, Billy Dickinson, Giles Dixon and Dan Mcdermott, Harri Cummings with two conversions.
Cheltenham II had a walkover against Newent II in Counties 4 Gloucestershire North.