DURSLEY were denied a late penalty try that almost certainly would have given them the Combination Cup instead of Cirencester in the final at Stroud RFC.

After trailing 17-0 at one stage, Dursley closed the gap to five points to put themselves in with a chance of snatching victory and they thought they were awarded a penalty try from a driven scrum near the Cirencester line at the death, only for the referee to overrule his touch judge.

Cirencester made a flying start with two converted tries and a penalty giving them a commanding lead before Brad Winchle went over to reduce the deficit to 17-5 at half-time.

Tim Wilcox set Matt Billett up for a try which was converted by Grant Boucher early on in the second half to close the gap further.

Both sides exchanged penalties, with Boucher kicking successfully for Dursley, before Cirencester scored another try to go 25-15 up.

Winchle scored his second unconverted try to set up a grandstand finish, but Dursley weren’t rewarded for their late pressure and Cirencester hung on.

Stroud & District Combination Junior Cup Final Cirencester 2nds 12 Dursley 2nds 9 Cirencester made it a cup double as they came from 9-0 down to beat Dursley in an entertaining final.

Cirencester started well but Dursley’s defence was very strong and disciplined to prevent them from scoring.

Dursley had some great breaks from their own half with Ashley Grimes and Max Pullin breaking through the tackles and setting up good ball.

From one such break Cirencester infringed at the breakdown and Jamie Hayward converted the penalty to give Dursley the lead. After the restart, gave away another penalty and Hayward converted.

Good attacking runs from Hamish Watson and Matt Bilous from deep ensured that Cirencester could only give away another penalty, and Hayward converted to give Dursley a nine-point lead.

The game was played from end to end but due to great commitment by both sides in defence no team could break the other down. This situation remained up until half time.

Early in the second half, Cirencester caught Dursley napping and scored the first try of the game, although the conversation was missed.

Dursley regrouped and Cirencester gave more penalties away, but Dursley could not convert these into points.

Cirencester then ran in a converted try to take the lead.

Dursley never gave up and continued to play the game in Cirencester’s half, but they could not convert penalties into points.