Ross win North Mids Vase
After another successful season Ross added the icing on the cake on Sunday, May 11th by winning the North Mids Vase at Stourbridge Rugby Club, defeating Cleobury Mortimer side by 26-13. Cleobury had reached the final of the National cup competition in 2006, so Ross were expecting a tough encounter. Cleobury started the brightest, establishing territory in the Ross twenty two in the opening minutes, and worked hard for that opening score, however Ross held firm, but did lose tight head prop Wayne Williams with a shoulder injury early on, this however only served to spur the Ross pack on, and within ten minutes Ross had opened the scoring. From another solid scrum, scrum half Andy Hunt moved the ball right, quick hands by the backline set up TC Leech to crash through a weak tackle from the Cleobury fullback to score, Chris Gage converted to put Ross 7-0 ahead. From the restart the Ross pack re-exerted control however it was Cleobury who were the next to score. From an innocuous scrum on the halfway Cleobury moved the ball to their number 13, nothing seemed on, however he managed to wriggle out of a double tackle and with no defensive cover scored in the left hand corner, they missed the conversion but had moved within two points. The Ross pack quickly re-established control after the unexpected score and within ten minutes had extended their lead. From another dominant scrum twenty yards out Ross executed a pre-planned move to send TC Leech in for his second try, again Chris Gage converted and Ross were 14-5 ahead. Again with half time looming Cleobury closed the gap with a penalty to leave them 14-8 down at the break. After securing quick ball fly half Simon Gwynne found centre Luke Gray who cut inside his man before outpacing the cover defence to score, this gave Ross a 19-8 lead with twenty minutes to go. However a poor pass from the base of a Ross scrum, let the Cleobury number 13 pounce on the loose ball and score, bringing to within six points with still ten minutes to go. Ross dominated possession and territory in the last quarter, and in the last play of the game sent TC Leech in for his hatrick, again Chris Gage added the conversion and Ross were 26-13 winners,securing their first North Midlands Vase trophy. Walford timber man of the match was TC Leech.