Gloucester Premier League

St Mary's Old Boys 18 Chipping Sodbury 16

BOTH sets of supporters were still getting comfy when Chipping Sodbury's clash with St Mary's Old Boys erupted into life.

Sodbury conceded a scrum from the kick-off and then found themselves grappling with thin air as St. Mary’s number eight picked up and went right.

Two passes later, they had the opening try in the right corner, which went unconverted.

From the restart, just five minutes into the game, St. Mary’s were forced into touch.

Sodbury won the lineout easily on the 10 metre line and set-up a maul.

The pack drove 25 metres before releasing the ball.

Pete Butcher surged forward, only to be held up short of the try line, but a quick recycle of the ball kept up the momentum.

One more ruck in midfield followed by two crisp passes created enough space for schoolboy Luke Butters to score in the corner which was unconverted.

Puzzlingly, Sods then struggled to get out of their own half.

On occasions, with St. Mary’s pressing hard, it was only men like Matt Cook, Luke Carnaby and Steve Hopes that stopped them by either turning over the ball at the ruck or picking off the home side’s throw at the lineout.

With the Sodbury scrum really firing thanks to the brutal raw power of Lee Ralph and the experience of Duncan Bell in the front row, they advanced at will.

The resulting string of penalties were both confusing and disappointing, and St. Mary’s were able to take a 8-5 lead after 20 minutes.

There was a lengthy injury break from the restart after Sodbury’s kick-off expert Tom Farthing leapt to collect the ball and collided with one of the opposition.

Sodbury toiled tirelessly, putting in maximum effort, but were ultimately undone by lapses of concentration, dropped passes and penalties.

On the cusp of the break, St. Mary’s knocked over another penalty, which gave them a little breathing room.

The Sods were energised after the break and started to show what they were capable of.

The runs straightened, passes went to hand and touch kicks found their mark. When Sodbury were awarded a penalty 15 metres out, most teams would go for goal but the ball was in the hands of Butcher.

He tapped and went, causing alarm for St. Mary’s.

It took three men to stop him but the momentum was with the visitors.

The ball was popped left from a ruck into the hands of Dan Bradley, who scampered in for the try.

Now it was St. Mary’s who struggled to get out of their own half as Sodbury pounded them.

Carnaby, Joe Horton, Dave Guest and Butcher repeatedly breached the defence but it was Jon Cook who ghosted past the defenders.

All this endeavour led to penalties, two of which James Bennett kicked.

Sodbury were still ahead in the final minutes but St Mary's scored a try to level and kicked a crucial conversion to win the match.