Gloucestershire One

Dursley 17 Cryptians 20

DURSLEY looked to finish off a solid Gloucestershire One league season the same way as the started, with a win over Old Cryptians on Saturday but instead went down to defeat.

It has left Dursley in fifth place in the table with a final total of 59 points from 22 games, with 11 wins to their name.

Saturday's game did not start well for the Dursley team, with a strong wind in their faces they found it hard to clear their lines and within 10 minutes found themselves two scores down, as a result from two good, but boring forward drives from Cryptians.

Dursley soon figured out how to nullify the Cryptians drive , with great work from Tom Stevens on most occasions, turning the ball over and giving Dursley possession to play with. It was from this possession that Stevens himself crashed over after great patience from the Dursley forward pack.

The Dursley pack maintained this pressure at scrum time, with the recall of Danny Morgan a noticeable one in the front row. With front foot ball Dursley started to ask more and more questions on Cryptians defence and were unlucky not to score again so after. Leaving the half time score 5-14 in Cryptians favour, but with all of the elements set to be in Dursleys favour in the second half.

It was clear that the half time whistle did not help Dursley and Cryptians extended their lead with a penalty shortly after the restart.

Score now, 5-17. Once again Dursley battled hard to win the majority of the possession, with some great turnover work, as always by hooker Alex Budd. Once again with the majority of possession, Dursley exerted pressure on the Cryptians defence and it finally cracked when captain for the day, Bobby Boucher used some exceptional footwork to break through and score, but he was unlucky to not add the extras, reducing the deficit to 10-17.

Once again Dursley were unable to secure possession from the restart allowing Cryptians to once again extend their lead by another three points to, 10-17.

With this wake up call and time very much against them, Dursley rallied and some more exceptional carrying from the forward pack and backline combined set them up for a frantic last 5 minutes. With seconds remaining it was Stevens who once again crossed the whitewash, Boucher converting to put Dursley within touching distance, 17-20, with one play left.

Was it going to be a remarkable comeback? Unfortunately not, Cryptians managed to force a mistake and the game was over. Dursley were unlucky not to win, but credit to Cryptians who showed great discipline and held out well. Dursley Man of the Match was Tom Stevens and a special mention and well wishing to Alex Budd, who leaves the club at the end of the season. Finally a great well done for the Dursley Nomads on securing their cup win over arch rivals Cirencester prior to the game.