A weakened Ross team suffered a heavy defeat last Saturday as a dominant forward display from Gloucester Old Boys ensured they ran out comfortable winners. The initial stages of the game saw a re jigged forward pack with Adam Clements dominant contest well,l however the home side's forward pack started to take a grip on the game with a series of simple tight hits.

After an initial penalty kicked by the 10 for Old Boys, a number of drives saw the Old Boys Hooker go over. With the conversion successful a sudden lapse in concentration again saw Old Boys get a line out in the corner and result in their winger touching down after some simple hands. With Gareth Holdsworth unfortunately taken to hospital this saw a rejig yet again of the team.

Ross then had a 10 minute spell of possession deep in the Old Boys twenty two and a couple of half breaks from Hugh Bellamy and Chris Price saw Ross get a penalty. This then was taken and quick hands by Matthew Redman and Craig Powell saw Ross create a chance out wide, but a lack of accuracy meant this chance was missed. This was a key moment to get back in the match with only 10 minutes of the half left, however some very sloppy defending and poor organization resulted in Old Boys scoring 2 simple tries before half time to lead 27 – 0, with them with the wind in the second half and downhill.

Also, by half time, Ross had lost Ali Hunter-Blair to a shoulder injury which will probably rule him out for the rest of the season. However a couple of changes in the backs and back row and a strong half time team talk by Nick Rawlings, Gavin Oates and Tara Barnett saw Ross restore some pride with a much improved second half. Whilst they conceded 3 penalty kicks Old Boys didn’t look like breaching a now solid defence and Ross scored an excellent try with a great angle by Chay Brine, resulting in Craig Smith scoring in the corner.

Luke Ward started to become more prominent with a couple of big hits and strong runs and Ollie showed some great effort and skill especially as they were making their debuts in the first team. Whilst the team was severely depleted through injuries and unavailability, the second half showed that the team could have won this game if the passion and work rate had been there from the off.

Two players stood out in Chay Brine and man of match Adam Clements who tackled themselves to standstill. The squad now has a big two months until the new year but start at home to Hucclecote this Saturday.