Above: Niamh, Sam, Andrew and Natalie Cottrell preparing for a nature walk using a route which is available at the Heritage Centre.

Below: Hereford and Borders Canoe and Kayak have built a lake so people can try out canoes before purchase.

Bottom: The Worship Band from Jubilee Christian Fellowship, Preston-on-Wye at the New Life Church's 'Mission Possible' evening on Saturday at the Larruperz Centre.

With the league title secured, Ross have now turned their attention to the Forest Combination Cup, taking on Cinderford in the semi final last Sunday. After a very competitive first sixty minutes Ross pulled away to win convincingly 29-3, booking themselves a final berth against Lydney next Saturday the 29th at Drybrook.

With home advantage Ross started the strongest, working hard to move the Cinderford pack about the park. With both Tara Barnett and Mike Davies making big gains early on however, every time Ross looked likely to find their rhythm the referee blew for an infringement. This enabled Cinderford to stay in the game early on. However as with all season Ross are able to create tries from all parts of the pitch. With fifteen minutes gone, first Tony Clements then Wayne Williams took the ball hard into the Cinderford defence. Simon Gwynne moved the ball quickly, Andy Hunt fed Hugh Bellamy who moved the ball to Dan Weston who cut inside his man, offloading to Hugh Bellamy who outpaced the Cinderford defence to score. Chris Gage converted giving Ross a 7-0 lead. For the rest of the half Ross fell foul of the ref's whistle, which finally led to a the sin binning of Flos Morgan. During his absence, Cinderford closed the gap to 7-3. However, with all their pressure and a litany of penalties Ross defence held out for the rest of the half, turning round 7-3 ahead at half time.

Ross worked hard to reduce the penalty count in the second half and as a result, started to look dangerous. Every time they got the ball, both Andy Hunt and Adam Clements began to ask questions of the Cinderford defence. Initially they held firm, but with the half ten minutes old, Ross secured their second score. Flos Morgan and Gavin Oates turned over Cinderford ball in the mid field. First Kevan Healy and then Tara Barnett took the ball deep into Cinderford territory. The ball was moved quickly out wide to Flos Morgan, who offloaded out of the tackle to Dan Weston. Dan cut inside his man before outpacing the fullback to score under the posts. Chris Gage then converted, giving Ross a 14-3 lead.

Ross were now in full control. Another Chris Gage penalty increased their lead to 17-3. From a sparkling move out on the right, Ross nearly added to the try count. Hugh Bellamy dummied his man, feeding Wayne Bishop. However with the try line beckoning, the pass did not stick. The next score did not take long. Again strong ball carrying from Mike Davies set up the ball. Simon Gwynne moved it quickly to Andy Hunt then Adam Clements. Chris Gage drew his man before feeding Wayne Bishop, who collected the ball to score in the corner. Ross were now 22-3 to the good.

With Paul Hayward and Nick Rawlings now on, Ross were now dominating the rucks and mauls. Tim Hanks, the Ross No 8 was now making big yardage, with Adam Clements and Alistair Rees now breaking tackles at will and the next score seemed imminent. When it did come however, it for once did not come from Ross creativity. Cinderford had ruck ball just outside their twenty two. They fed their centre, who offloaded in the tackle. Tara Barnett pounced on the offload collecting the ball then outpacing the cover defence, running in the try from 30 yards out ( this was later in the bar re-measured at 60 yards) to score. Chris Gage again converted giving a final score of 29-3 to Ross, who now progress to the final in Drybrook on the 29th April.

Let's hope for a big Ross contingent to support their local team.

Paul Haley

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