Dursley Rugby Football Club
Dursley R.F.C.
Registered as a Community Amateur Sports Club CASC since 2004
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Dursley U14s vs. Old Pats U14s
5th February 2006
Match Date: Sunday 5th February
Opposition: Old Pats
Venue: Old Pats
County Cup Round 2
Old Pats U14’s 10 Dursley U14’s 7
Conditions at Old Pats were muddy and with a cross wind.
Dursley won the toss and chose to play down the slope in the first half. The first quarter was fairly scrappy due to handling errors on both sides.
Dursley with the majority of the possession and encamped on theOld Pats line were unable to convert this pressure into points. This frustration resulted in giving away penalties, which enabled Old Pats to clear their line time after time.
After one such clearance kick, the ball fell to Easingwood, who ran determinedly at the try line, but was caught by several Old Pats defenders and resulted in an injury which meant he had to leave the field of play.
Easingwood was replaced by Ward moving from hooker and Belton taking over the hooking role.
The Dursley scrum was dominant , but still after driving Old Pats back could not score and once again Old Pats cleared their line.
Tackling by Belton, Lea and Owen kept Dursley in the Old Pats half.
After another handling error by Old Pats , Dursley were awarded a scrum. They cleared the ball away and from the resulting maul , Hancock fed the forwards. Evans at the fore drove into the Old Pats defence and set up a rolling maul ably assisted by Allsopp. Together they rumbled over the line ,being driven by the remaining forwards, for the first try of the match. Hayward converted to give Dursley a 7 – 0 lead , followed by the Ref. Blowing up for half time.
From the kick off Old Pats, now with the slope, started running at Dursley. Each time they were held up by ferocious tackling by Burns , Leanard-Walters, Watson and Lea.
From a period of intense pressure by Old Pats the ball was recovered by Hayward who cleared the Dursley line to relieve the pressure, only to miss touch , and the Old Pats winger catch and counter attack down the wing Owen , in his usual form , thwarted the attack with a beautiful cover tackle, to prevent Old Pats getting on the score sheet.
Old Pats didn’t give up and from some fearsome tackling by Atkins and Hugginson in the centre, the recycled 2nd phase ball came back and the Old Pats back lone broke Dursley’s defence to score. Missing the conversation, leaving the score 5 – 7 in Dursley’s favour.
From the restart Old Pats ran the ball at Dursley and only crushing tackles by Owen and Berry prevented other scores.
The slippery ball and muddy conditions meant that handling errors still caused both sides to spill the ball , ensuring lots of rucks and mauls , with Belton and Leonard-Walters causing problems for Old Pats in these close encounters.
From one such maul Leonard-Walters ripped the ball and fed Allsopp who linked well with Burns to break away up field. The return pass from Burns to Allsopp was knocked forward. From the ensuing scrum Old Pats returned the favour by charging into the Dursley defence. Although Dursley were defending well they gave away a penalty 15m from their line. Old Pats quickly got the ball moving with some slick handling between the backs their winger crossed over the line to score in the corner. The conversion was missed.
The Ref. blew up for the end of the match ensuring that Old Pats took the honours.Credit to Dursley they played their hearts out in difficult conditions, and deserved to win if not draw the match.
Dursley’s next match is against Widdon OB on 19/02/06 in round 3 of the County Cup.
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