Western Counties North

North Bristol 20 Chew Valley 22

COMPETITIVE sport can be cruel sometimes and a team's performance can mean a lot more than the win or loss column.

After being beaten heavily the previous week at Drybrook, North Bristol restored some pride in the shirt by losing in the dying moments to Chew Valley.

In truth, North will be ruing the chances they didn't take to kill the game off and cap a memorable victory.

Chew kicked off with North playing into a strong head win and for the first ten minutes the home side kept the ball and went through the phases.

Big carries for Ross Wilson, Max Sheppard and Alex Flannigan were met by a Chew Valley brick wall.

However this didn't last long as the ever-improving Andre Samura crashed though the middle of the Chew defensive wall like a sledgehammer.

After reset scrum after reset scrum, Chew managed to clear their lines and, after having no possession, found themselves 3-0 up with a simple penalty.

This kicked North back into life and after constant pressure Chew had a player sent to the bin for killing the ball.

Off a well worked lineout, Jim Hitchman broke in the midfield and the ball found its way to Alex Featherstone to cross the line.

With half-time quickly approaching North knew Chew would come back hard at them and they did.

After winning a penalty in front of the post they decided to run the ball at North, however it was turned over and the referee blew as North found themselves 5-3 up at the break.

The second period started with a bang and live wire scum half Steve Trimmel linked up well with Sheppard off the back of the scrum and fed the ball to Phil Sterry to canter over from five yards.

Chew Valley then showed North why they are second in the league and for ten minutes played some sublime rugby, which resulted in two very well worked tries.

However, North weren't about to give up the ghost with Wilson and Featherstone smashing holes in the Chew defence and Martin Harrex and Hitchman snuffing out any break.

North worked their way down field with man of the match Trimmel bulldozing his way over the line from two metres out.

With five minutes left on the clock North were dreaming of a big upset, but Chew came back at them again.

After Sterry had been sent to the bin, Chew kicked to the corner and from the resulting catch and drive scored.

With the score locked at 20-20 the conversion drifted wide, however the referee had spotted an infringement, allowing Chew to retake it.

This time he slotted between the posts to give the visitors a two-point lead.

This was not the end of the drama and with seconds left on the clock North won a penalty, however Dec Carroll's kick just went wide of the posts.

The final whistle then blew, allowing North to reflect on what could have been.

Tries - Alex Featherstone, Phil Sterry, Steve Trimmel.

Conversions - Phil Sterry.

Penalty Goals - Phil Sterry.