Cheltenham North – 16

Chipping Sodbury – 20

SODBURY'S trip to Cheltenham was notable for the inclusion of Anthony Montilla.

The aged speedster ran out on the wing after returning to rugby following a stint as a horse whisperer.

It was notable too as the towering talent of Tom Farthing was selected at scrum half; he didn’t look out of place at all and made sure the pack didn’t slack off so he could keep pinging precise passes at Dan Bradley.

During the early exchanges, Sodbury kept the ball through multiple phases, with plenty of support and running from deep.

While the Sods reorganised from Ollie Hunter’s yellow card, North swept in to their 22; centres Dom Pullen and Joe Horton were as robust in defence as ever, but it was the chiselled physique of Jon Cook who dashed across the 22 to smash his man into touch.

North were soon under a yellow card themselves. From the penalty, Sodbury kicked the ball into their 22 and brought the ball down from a scrappy lineout.

Luke Balentine-Smith featured heavily in the build-up to a try that owed much to the forward power of Sodbury. He thundered forward under heavy tackles but stayed on his feet until support arrived.

The quick ruck ball was popped up to Lee Ralph who once again this week showed a beautiful soft touch as he laid the ball off to Niall Kincaid, keeping his legs pumping through the defence before smashing over for his first try since joining in the summer.

Following the try, the game became a little scrappy, being played out between the 22’s. Sodbury were full of endeavour but final passes and passes out of contact were being put down.

They were also guilty of not re-aligning quickly enough, which finally allowed North in to Sodbury’s 22, where they booted their first points from a penalty. They came straight back from the restart but were thwarted by the visitor’s ferocious defence.

The North attack was spirited but narrow, providing plenty of work round the breakdown for Balentine-Smith and eventual Man Of The Match George ‘Bouffant’ Barnes, who put himself about with the subtlety of a demolition ball.

Luke Carnaby was back in the team following his attendance at an artists’ retreat in Portugal and was central to everything good that Sodbury did. His tackle count was high but it was his ball carrying that really caught the eye.

As the half-time oranges loomed, Sodbury were surprised to find themselves 6 – 5 down after North kicked a 40m penalty in the closing minutes of the half. A regroup was welcomed.

North came out after the break with real purpose and worked themselves into Sodbury’s 22 via a penalty. They won their lineout, put together 3 quick-as-a-flash rucks and dived over from 5 metres to extend their lead.

The Sods reacted by sending on Chairman Phil Player at no.8 and flaxen-haired teenager Luke Butters on the wing. There was a pay-off immediately as Sodbury claimed the restart; 3 passes got the ball away from heavy traffic and into the hands of Pullen.

He picked his traditional arrow-straight trajectory, drawing one of the final 2 defenders. Butters’ first touch was on the North 22; the callow speedster simply outpaced the remaining tackler for a try which got the Sodbury effort back on track.

Once again from the kick-off Sodbury made good progress. Pete Butcher secured the ball and found Carnaby, who, along with Player, toyed with the defence as they simply passed amongst themselves up the centre of the pitch.

By then Butcher had caught up and was able to provide a looping basketball-style pass to Horton. The irresistible big man cruised in behind the posts and with Cook’s conversion Sodbury now had an 11 – 17 lead.

Sodbury were then forced to weather a North storm, with the likes of Farthing, Barnes and Player stepping up in defence.

It was Butters, however, who drew gasps from the crowd when, as the last defender, he stopped North’s mountainous no.8 in his tracks.

Following Sodbury conceding a completely out-of-character pushover try, the game was on a knife edge for the final 10 minutes. North threw away their momentum when they lost another player to a yellow card, this time for stamping.

When the Sods were awarded a final penalty shortly after, Jon Cook stepped up and stroked it between the uprights from 30m, putting the lid on Sodbury’s first victory on the road this season.