Gloucester One League

St Brendan’s OB 17 Dursley 34

DURSLEY found themselves at a new venue and playing on an artificial 4G pitch on Saturday but still came away with an impressive victory over St Brendan’s Old Boys in Gloucester One League.

The match was at the Bristol University sports facilities at Coombe Dingle on a blustery day and saw the Old Boys mount early pressure.

But Dursley got the first try of the game when fly-half Grant Boucher put the penalty deep into the Old Boys corner.

The attacking line-out was won by Dursley and quick service from scrum half Andy Butler and a sniping run saw them inches from the try line.

Recycled ball released Boucher to offload to Chris Perrett to his left who touched down in the corner.

The conversion was missed but Dursley were soon attacking again in the Old Boys half.

A penalty put Dursley in the bottom corner. The lineout was won and a well-controlled maul brought Dursley to the try line for Butler and Boucher to set up Perrett for another unconverted try.

St Brendan’s kicked a penalty under the posts to reduce the deficit to 10-3 at half-time.

Dursley applied intense pressure straight out of the blocks from the start of the second half and it paid off.

They forced a fumble at a ruck in front of the Old Boys posts. Ryan Malpass wasn’t going to miss and put Dursley into a 13-3 lead.

St Brendan’s hit back from a quick ball at a ruck which saw Dursley over committed centrally to leave the home flanker crashing over for a converted try.

The Old Boys scrum-half was yellow carded for ill discipline at the ruck and Dursley took the penalty kick deep into the opposition corner.

A solid line-out from Dursley and a quick ball out to the backs from Butler saw Malpass with the ball.

He showed good pace to score under the post. Boucher converted and Dursley were ten points clear.

Old Boys restarted and there followed 10 minutes of rucking and counter rucking from both teams.

St Brendan’s, now restored to 15 men, tried moving the ball wide through the backs.

But an error forced an interception for Perrett to run-in from the halfway line, showing good pace as he dashed under the posts to make the conversion simple.

Dursley, with their tails up, collected the ball well from the restart and Boucher got good service again from the back of a ruck and into space.

It set up Josh Baily on the right to score under the posts. Boucher duly converted and Dursley were up to a lead of 34-10.

Old Boys who weren’t rolling over and they again put the Dursley defence under intense pressure around the visitors’ 22 for a good 10 minutes.

From a St Brendan’s scrum and a fluid delivery to their backs, the home side’s winger was released to show some good pace to score under the posts.

Dursley were caught napping and a lack of concentration allowed the try and a subsequent conversion for St Brendan’s.

Nevertheless, Dursley were well ahead and took a bonus point from the match as well.