At a cold and misty John Kyrle High School, Ross RFC played eighty minutes of red hot rugby that froze Upton out yet warmed up the small crowd of spectators who had braved the harsh conditions.

Upton had come down the M50, not only top of North Midlands Division 1 but unbeaten all season and must have been full of confidence against a team playing out of Gloucester Division 3. Such was the power of the Ross pack however and the nerve of the Ross backs, every last ounce of their confidence had evaporated by half time.

With the temperature just above freezing and the mist hanging low, it was important for both teams to get quickly into the game. The first ten minutes were probably Upton's best period, they drove hard into the Ross forwards and looked to move the ball wide at every opportunity. However, Ross' defence held firm, as it had all season and as the match entered the second quarter, the Ross defence were not only stopping Upton's attacks but driving them back.

As the intensity of the Ross defence increased so did errors in Upton's game. Ross took every opportunity to increase the tempo of the game by running every back at Upton and from one of these forays came Ross's first try. After some strong running by Mike Davies and Tara Barnett, Ross won a ruck in the Upton 22, Simon Gwynne moved the ball out to Andy Hunt who delayed his pass perfectly to Adam Clements who scythed through the defence to score under the posts. Andy Hunt converted, giving Ross a 7 - 0 lead.

Tony Clements gathered the restart and Ross were back in possession, some excellent picking and driving from Kevin, Dave Mince and Tim Hanks saw Ross once again controlling possession and the tempo of the game increased, with Gavin Oates at the fore at every breakdown. From an Upton error, quick thinking by Matt Taylor and Mike Davies put Hugh Bellamy away to score Ross's second try, making the half time score 12 - 0.

Ross made some changes early into the second half with Sam Harness, TC and Matt Douglas joining the fray. The tempo of the game did not drop and as the second half continued, Upton began to fall off tackles with some strong running from Matt Taylor, Baz and TC. The attacks kept coming throughout the final quarter and further tries from Matt Douglas, Mike Davies and Baz gave a final score line of Ross 34 Upton 0.

This was an excellent all round performance from the Ross squad in difficult conditions and against a team, unbeaten all season. Next weeks fixture is away at Malvern. The kick off is at 2.30 pm. Ross RFC would like to thank the match sponsor, 'Wye Garden Services' for their support.