Painswick stage stunning comeback (From Stroud News and Journal)

Painswick 24 Dursley 24

9:35am Thursday 7th March 2013 in Sport By SNJ Sport

PAINSWICK pegged back a 24-0 scoreline to share the spoils with relegation rivals Dursley, writes Richard Barnard.

Painswick made an awful start as Tom Broomfield crashed over for a try ,which was converted by Mark Billet, who then added a penalty.

Weak tackling and poor defensive alignment allowed an alert Dursley back-row and half- backs to take advantage of the blindside and put in sharp winger Chris Parrott to score twice, both converted by Billet. After half an hour it was 24-0 to the home time.

Injuries led to forwards Tom Russell and Sam Gabb coming off the bench and adding energy to the Painswick effort.

A sustained spell in the home 22 and running numerous penalty opportunities finally ended with Jake Saunders passing to winger Will Hewer who touched down in the corner for a try which was converted by Ali Bressington.

The score galvinised Painswick as they took control of the second half. Astute kicking from Bressington and fly-half Dom Barnard kept Dursley pinned in their own half and the forwards gained an ascendancy in the scrum and the back row of Gabb, Boon and Britton fought tenaciously in the loose.

Dursley defended doggedly and Billet kicked effectively in clearing his line. Eventually two clean breaks from Barnard resulted in a rare brace of tries for the fly-half, both converted by Bressington.

A great run from his own 22 from the full -back was then halted on the home 22. With five minutes left Bressington secured a draw with a superb penalty from 55 metres out.