CHIPPING Sodbury’s Ridings’ pitch was in wonderful condition and bathed in glorious sunshine as Sodbury welcomed rivals Frampton Cotterell for their Gloucester Premier League derby.

It was the third game in eight days for the hosts, and they were looking for a victory to maintain some pressure on the two teams above them in the league.

Sodbury started well enough and their communication was good. There was huge physical commitment and plenty of creativity from the likes of Dan Bradley, Joe Horton, Alan Keeping and self-proclaimed fastest-man-in-the-club Lee Ralph.

What was lacking was the final pass or support to the ball carrier, which frustrated everyone.

Horton and Butcher used their power to gain vital metres through the defence, while the subtle flashing feet of Jon Cook and Luke Butters drew gasps from the crowd.

Sodbury had an early let-off when Frampton attempted a penalty kick from 25m out to the left of the posts.

The ball ricocheted off an upright into the safe hands of Farthing.

This led to a solid 15 minutes of pressure on Sodbury as the visitors bashed away fruitlessly despite their weary limbs, the thin black line held fast.

With still no score after thirty frenetic minutes, Sodbury finally managed to string together multiple phases, most of them in Frampton’s 22.

Cool heads and control of the ball saw the final pass swung long and wide to Horton.

The big man knows his way to the try line and, with only one man to beat, he streaked in easily. Bradley converted.

Those cool heads were nowhere to be seen at the restart. Sodbury completely bungled it and Frampton were quickest to react and went in for a try wide on the left.

Now Sodbury kicked to the visitors, this time they were found wanting as they knocked on. The scrum set blasted their counterparts backwards.

Horton was sent charging deep into the Frampton defensive line, the ball was recycled rapidly and given to Bradley.

Sodbury’s number ten is in a rich vein of form right now, and his easy running style carried him in a mazy run, dodging tackles from 25m. He also converted to see Sodbury 14-5 up at the break.

The second half started with a kick-off knock-on by Frampton and a try for Sodbury. The ball went through six phases from right to left, during a keen contest Frampton conceded another scrum.

Sodbury dipped as one at the 5m scrum but dynamic scrum half Ryan Halford whipped the ball away. This time Bradley threw a basketball bounce pass.

Halford was looping round and collected it. On hand was Cook, the 10m and one defender was no problem for such an accomplished finisher. Bradley converted again.

The lactic acid was building up in the Sodbury players as the game entered the final quarter. Frampton got field position from Sodbury’s ill-discipline as they exploited a series of penalties and managed their third try. Sodbury won but with nothing like the style and swagger they expect from themselves.