Dursley 19 Longlevens 20

Gloucester One

DURSLEY came touching distance of toppling the Gloucester One runaway leaders Longlevens with one of their best performances of the season on Saturday.

After a couple of lacklustre matches over previous weeks, Dursley need to dig deep when taking on a team which has lost only twice in twenty matches - and they didn’t disappoint.

The match went to the last play of the game before Longlevens scored the try that sealed their one-point win.

Dursley started strongly with a break by number eight Tom Stevens immediately putting pressure on in the Longlevens five metre line. The ball was spun wide but the last pass was knocked-on and play was brought back for a previous infringement.

It gave fly-half Grant Boucher an early opportunity to kick three points to take the lead after four minutes.

Hard yards by props Jake Martin and Ty Chappell and good work on the wings by Damien Cummings and James Hugginson supported by second row Sam Porter gained more ground, and with nine minutes played, Dursley were presented with a second kickable penalty just outside the 22 which Boucher comfortably slotted to increase the lead to six points.

More pressure from centres Max Pullin and A J Caddick, supported by Stevens and full-back Tom Broomfield, kept Dursley deep in Longlevens territory.

With Longlevens not used to being under pressure, tempers started to fray and, with 14 minutes played, Dursley were awarded their third penalty kicked by Boucher to increase the score to 9-0.

It was looking good for an upset but minutes later and against the run of play, Longlevens scored an unconverted try whilst on a penalty advantage.

Dursley replied when strong running by Martin, Caddick and flanker Simon Camm set-up Boucher for a jinking run through the Longlevens defence to score under the post. Boucher added the simple conversion and Dursley were 11 points up midway through the first period.

From the restart, flanker Harry Lea made good ground but Longlevens upped the tempo and only strong defence by Dursley stopped a certain Longlevens score.

The second-half started with end-to-end play and with both teams defending well. A yellow card to Perry six minutes into the half reduced Dursley to 14 men but they continued to plug the gaps.

Stevens made a strong break from a quick tap penalty, supported by Lea, to venture deep into the Longlevens 22 but again Longlevens defended well.

Broomfield looked solid under the high ball with some intelligent long-range touch-finders. Perry rejoined and supported a strong run by second row Scott Udal.

Midway through the half, Longlevens, from a well-worked line-out, scored their second try with the conversion attempt hitting the post to close the gap to six points.

And a break by Longlevens' winger brought about their third unconverted try, leaving Dursley with a narrow 16-15 lead and tension mounting.

The Dursley forwards worked hard through phases, shepherded by young scrum-half Jack Pinker, to set Boucher up in the pocket for a successful drop-goal to regain a four-point advantage.

Good work at the breakdown by hooker Alex Budd and breaks by Pullin and Stevens kept the desperate Longlevens charge at bay.

But deep into time added on and in the final play of the game, Longlevens added a further unconverted try after sustained pressure in the Dursley red zone to scrape the victory by the narrowest of margins.