Old Cryptians 1st XV 15 Dursley 1st XV 23

DURSLEY made the journey north with a much-changed side from their last league win at home to Civil Service and were determined to continue their recent good run of results.

Taking on opponents from Division One, who had also found some form, the task of coming away with a positive result was always going to be a tough one.

Dursley made the brighter start, pressurising the home side with driving runs up the middle through number eight Mark Perry, ably supported by his back row of Andy Scott and Kev Davies. The new half back pairing of Ed Bircher and Rob Frost linked well with centres Andy Jones and Steve Frost.

With conditions far from ideal there were always going to be errors and from one such error the Crypts back row broke blind and scored under the posts.

Dursley battled hard and eventually the pressure told as C's gave away a penalty, which was duly converted by Bircher. Dursley were beginning to hit full stride but it was the home side that capitalised on some sloppy defending with an unconverted try in the corner.

Dursley's answer was swift. From some good lineout work by Benny and Graham Dakin the ball was driven forward. Gary Woodward took on the running and with good inter-passing drove down the field. From a quick clear out, Frost looked to pass out blind but with a clever switch, fed the ball inside to the speedy Scott who burst through from close range to score.

Dursley made the quicker start after the break and were soon putting C's under pressure. The lineout was starting to work well but good use of the slope and some neat support play gave the Dursley back three of Luke Ogden, Ashley Brown and Trevor Scoot plenty of defending to do.

Dursley held out and from a multi-phase passage of play worked the ball into space to allow speedster Brown to race through and score, with Ogden converting. Both sides then exchanged penalties to leave the score at 15-18 to Dursley.

It was left to the move of the game to put the result out of reach for the home side.

The ball was worked up field and from a quick ruck inside the Crypt's 22 Frost put Perry into space who neatly drew his man and then passed long to Scott.

Centre Jones made the dummy run to pull open a hole and Scott duly obliged and instead of going airtight, ran through to score under the posts.

The conversion was made and despite some last minute rallying, Dursley's defence held firm for the win.

Dursley's next league game is on February 19 at home to Cotham Park. All support will be welcome as they try to stretch further into the Division Two safety zone, and a possible top three finish.