Western Counties North

Gordano 19

Stroud 12

STROUD lost out at rain-soaked Gordano, writes Russ Hillier.

A pitch-inspection saw the match given the go ahead and from the get-go, Stroud were on the front-foot and quickly earned a penalty opportunity. With the gusty wind behind him, Kurtis Herbert unfortunately saw his kick go wide and this spurred Gordano to venture into Stroud territory for the first time.

Here, following some good inter-play, their winger crossed in the corner for an unconverted try.

The weather continued to affect the quality of play, but Stroud took the lead with a good attacking move that saw Dan Gordon create a great overlap for Sam Hester to score near the posts and Kurtis Herbert convert, to give Stroud a 7-5 lead at the break.

Playing into the strong wind, Stroud came close again with Pete Sykes unfortunately adjudged to have stepped into touch while crossing the line and minutes later again held up with the try line at his mercy, but it was Gordano to next alter the scoreboard.

A charge down that went wrong saw a penalty try awarded against the visitors and then an interception within their own half leading to a try near the posts, saw the home team lead by 19-7 going into the last quarter of the game.

With the pitch and the weather disrupting the quality of play Stroud managed to score another try through Jordan Phipps taking the final score to 19 points to 12 points in Gordano’s favour and bring an end to a messy game that matched the weather.