Sitting in second place in Gloucester Division 2 after four games, the Ross Rugby Club players were looking to keep up the pressure on league leaders Dursley last Saturday. This they achieved with a decisive win in Bristol against Ashley Down Old Boys 30 - 15. In blustery conditions it was important for Ross to start strongly. Ashley Down obliged as they failed to take the kick off and immediately conceded a lineout in their own 22. The Ross forwards took advantage of Ashley Down's generosity . Working through three phases of quick ball, from the last ruck the ball was moved quickly along the Ross backline to winger Dan Weston who cut inside the Ashley Down defence to score. Chris Gage converted and Ross were 7 - 0 up after five minutes. Following such a bright start Ross continued to move a big Ashley Down pack around the park. However, their adventurous approach was undone by either too many errors or the referee's whistle as the penalty count against them grew. The stop- start nature of the half definitely played into Ashley Down's hands, but they were unable to make inroads into a well organised Ross defence. As the game entered its second quarter Ross added to their lead with a Chris Gage penalty. From the kick off Ashley Down infringed again, and from their own 10 yard line Chris Gage indicated a kick for goal some 60 metres out. Even with the wind at his back this was a towering kick, it gave Ross a 13 - 0 lead. Ross were now in control of the game, however further infringements gave Ashley Down a lineout 10 yards out, and from the resulting driving maul they crashed over, cutting the Ross lead to 13 - 5 at half time. With the wind in their faces Ross knew they had to cut out the errors and penalties in the second half if they were to prevent the Ashley Down pack from camping themselves in the Ross 22. As in the first half, Ross started the brightest. With Gavin Oates and Wayne Williams showing up well in the loose, and with the error count reduced, they began to stretch the Ashley Down defence. After some strong running up the middle from first Joe Gittins then Dave Mince, the ball was moved quickly right. Adam Clements cut inside his man, off- loading to Wayne Bishop, who moved the ball back inside to Alistair Rees. Rees was tackled five yards out, but he managed to off-load to Chris Gage, who scored, giving Ross an 18 - 5 lead. Ross continued to keep up the pressure, with Nick Rawlings finding his jumpers and the scrum holding steady. Ross stepped up the pace looking for that third try, Matt Jones drove hard into the Ashley defence and the ball was quickly recycled . Tara Barnett sucked in the defenders and Simon Gwynne moved the ball left. After some slick handling, winger Dan Weston added his second and Ross's third try, putting them 23 - 5 up. Ashley Down did rally cutting the deficit to 23-10 with a try after 60 minutes. However Chay Brine added a brilliant individual score to give Ross a 30 - 10 lead with 10 minutes to go. Ashley Down did add another score however it was too little too late as Ross ran out 30-15 victors. Next Saturday, October 28th, Ross are at home in Cup action versus Bristol Saracens, kick-off at 3 pm.
