Gloucester Premier League

Chipping Sodbury 17 St Mary’s Old Boys 22

THE TOP-of-the-table clash had all the elements of a high-level game with drama, tension, tries and heartbreak.

After just three minutes, teenage sensation Luke Butters was through for a try, after a 30m move involving all Sodbury’s backs.

He was smashed into touch 10m short by a tackle above the shoulders, which had the partisan crowd howling.

Thus began a period of Sodbury pressure which saw turnovers, another high tackle and a missed penalty attempt. Heading up the Sodbury effort was Dave Guest, eventual Man of the Match Niall Kincaid, Dom Pullen and Tom Farthing.

Farthing is proving himself invaluable to the team this season, playing many positions; this week, though, he really excelled as he climbed to second in the tackle count.

There was no score until a telegraphed pass was pounced on by Saints’ backs, who were rapid in defence all afternoon. This breakaway interception score affected the Sodbury effort and, just 5 minutes later, St Mary’s found themselves behind the posts again after some uncharacteristically poor defence.

Sodbury gathered themselves and began to press hard for a try of their own, but were turned over in the 22.

Saints’ resulting dash was brought to a halt in Sodbury’s own 22, where the home side stole the ball back.

On hand was Joe Horton who burst round the ruck to make space for Dan Bradley, who set off on the fifty metre run to the line.

The length of his stride, combined with his pace, left would-be tacklers festooning the floor as he sashayed his way down the touchline. He even converted his own try from an outrageous distance.

The final act of the half was Saints booting a penalty from 30m so they could enjoy their orange with a 7-15 advantage.

At the start of the next period Sodbury dodged a bullet when Saints missed a shot at goal.

However, the break had given the hosts a chance to examine themselves and they came out stronger for it.

Bradley was finding gaps in the defence with ease while followed by Pullen and Jon Cook, who seems to glide when running at full tilt.

Most surprisingly, Sodbury were keeping the penalty count down while forcing penalties out of Saints, along with turning them over.

Bradley launched the ball from a penalty to provide a 5m lineout, now the pack took over.

They seldom miss a scoring opportunity from this distance, and Captain Peter Butcher capitalised on the sterling work of the powerful men like Ben Sharp, Lee Ralph and Luke Balentine-Smith to score a try which Bradley improved.

There was a Sodbury surge from the restart, which saw the delightful Cook and Horton wreaking havoc. Unfortunately the Sods' natural exuberance got the better of them.

They hacked their earlier great work off at the knees by launching crazy one-handed offloads and generally not looking after the ball. St Mary’s maintained their shape and kept pressing hard, but coughed up several penalties in their own 22.

With only a few minutes to go, Sodbury took the lead for the first time from the self-assured boot of Bradley.

Saints showed some real composure and dedication to their task when the Sodbury pack splintered their scrum as the contest ticked away. Reversing at speed with the front row stood up, the vast majority of the crowd expected a Sodbury penalty.

It wasn’t given. Saints swept the ball at speed to the right and scored in the corner in the dying seconds, a repeat of the last game between the two sides, to dash Sodbury’s hopes of victory and leave the hosts rueing some of the chances they missed.