Dramatic finish Gibbs’ try seals victory for Stow

STOW-ON-THE-WOLD came from 15-0 down to snatch a dramatic 29-24 Regional 1 South Central win at Newbury.

Newbury’s first try came from a dropped pass while Stow were attacking off a tapped penalty deep in their 22, the second came off a dropped kick receipt and the third from a poorly defended right side scrum.

Stow got on the board with a Jamie Gibbs try, converted by Charlie Slatter but a Newbury penalty gave them an 18-7 half-time lead.

At the first opportunity to attack from deep inside Stow’s 22, Newbury opted to take the three points before Stow went over when another tapped penalty, retained through three phases, resulted in a try for Louis Chapman.

Two minutes later, another break by Gibbs saw Sean Thompson score his opening league try for Stow, taking the score to 21-17, before a Newbury penalty pushed them 24-17 ahead.

Newbury lost a player to the bin, before some scintillating ball movement saw Craig Chapman go over for a try to set up a grandstand finale.

The winning score came in the 78th minute, with a great attacking build-up resulting in an offload from Max Cartlidge put Gibbs over for the winner, cooly converted by James Holmes.

In Regional 2 Severn, Chippenham had a 29-19 win over Cheltenham, while Chosen Hill FP are off the mark with a 34-21 win over Trowbridge.

In Counties 1 Western North, Cheltenham North postponed their game with Midsomer Norton following the death of Her Majesty The Queen.

Smiths Rugby, Gordon League and Brockworth have won two out of two in Counties 2 Gloucestershire North.

James Singer, Ben Sheldrake (two) and Duncan Spurrier scored Smiths’ tries as they won 24-7 at Cirencester, Singer adding two conversions.

Gordon League beat Spartans 26-18, and those two sides have maximum points, with Brockworth winning 50-5 at Cheltenham Saracens.

Kurtis Herbert scored two tries and kicked five conversions, with Chris Anderson also crossing twice.

Ben Le Feurve, Sam Barnett, Tommy Lyons and Jon Newton also went over for the Badgers, Jack Lawrenson grabbing Saracens’ consolation score.

Cam Hunter scored two tries as Coney Hill celebrated their 75th anniversary in style with a 38-19 win over Ross-on-wye.

Aaron Fowke, Tom Anderson, Finbar Baker and Ryan Stephens also scored with four conversions for Carl Fritchley.

There was an exciting finish at Hucclecote, as a last-minute Dan Tyler try and conversion gave Old Cryptians a 22-17 win.

Mickey Graves, Gareth Davis and James Clutterbuck scored the Hucclecote tries, with Elliott Gardner and James Allen also going over for Crypts,

Tyler adding another conversion and a penalty.

Tries for Jack Kelly and Jamie Mayall, both converted by Adam Wallace, helped Old Richians to a 14-10 win at Old Centralians II.

In Counties 3 Gloucestershire North, the games between Bredon Star and Matson II and Cheltenham Civil Service v Widden Old Boys were both postponed after the death of the Queen.

Gloucester Old Boys were 31-10 winners over Chosen Hill FP II to maintain their winning start.

Tries for Liam Aherne, Matt Owen, Adam Willis, Josh Pearson and Zac Pitt, plus three conversions for James Murphy, saw off Chosen, who replied with a Kevin Saunders try, converted by Dan Yeates, who also added a penalty.

Fairford needed a last-gasp Harri Cummings penalty to edge past Tewkesbury, 16-14.

A break from Keelan Little midway through the first half saw him round the Tewkesbury full-back and score from 30 metres out.

The try was converted by Cummings, who also added two penalties to give Fairford a 13-0 lead.

At 13-0 down, Tewkesbury raised their game, and two Tewkesbury converted tries saw them take a 14-13 lead late in the second half, Brendan Llewelyn and Shaun Mason going over, the conversions added by James Watkins.

But some excellent carrying from debutant Charlie Eddolls, Stephen Wilkins and Greg Jones gave Fairford great territory and saw the visitors penalised close to the touchline, and skipper Cummings took the chance to kick the winning points.

Oscar Adamson, Aaron Raath, Matt Collins and Sam Strange scored the tries which gave Stroud a 24-10 derby win at Minchinhampton, Adamson adding two conversions.

Old Patesians top the table after running in seven tries in their 47-7 win over Norton at Everest Road.

They were off to a flying start when a well-executed line out drive found George Warley in space to open the scoring, the try converted by Sam Rhymes.

Archie Long stole a lineout ball and strolled over uncontested for Pats second. Rhymes then received a perfectly timed pass from Louie Vincent he dabbed down, converting his own try.

James Macintosh crashed over for the bonus point try after Pats won a scum against the head, then an excellent Warley break from deep saw Louie Nicholson collect from Mackintosh for a fine try taking the game out of sight as half time beckoned.

Warley added his second, the try converted by Rhymes before Norton claimed a consolation try in the corner through Ben Crocker, Cameron Brandy converting.

A succession of five-metre scrums saw veteran forward Phil Sylvester go over for Pats’ seventh try.