VALLEY COUGARS 44 – 10 GLOUCESTERSHIRE WARRIORS

The Gloucestershire Warriors may have been defeated in Wales but they could hold their heads high after a committed performance against the champions.

The side were hit by injury during the game with Jamie James (broken arm), Brad Harris (groin), Ryan Solomon (knee) and Kevin Briggs (ankle) all being forced from the field leaving the Warriors to play the last quarter with just 12 men and the final few minutes with 11 as their resources dwindled.

Coach Richard Jones was impressed with the performance of the side: “It was one of the best team performances we have had,” he said. “The team really pulled together today and each one of them put their hand up and ground the game out. I’m very proud of them”.

For the first hour, the Warriors defended solidly for the first hour and moved forward with purpose though there was little reward for their good build up play.

“It was a game of brain versus brawn and unfortunately the brawn came better off,” added Jones.

“We matched them for the first half and played very smart which is what I asked of the lads. We were very unfortunate to lose four players due to injury which led to us ending the game with only 11 on the pitch,” he said.

“Because of the fatigue our standards dropped and skill levels started slipping. There was a pivotal moment in the second half where we had the opportunity to build pressure but we chucked our chance away by missing touch from a penalty.”

They recovered well after conceding an early try from Craig Lewis converted by Marcus Webb and Nathan Rainer had a try disallowed for a double movement. Then Joel James somehow managed to get a kick away under severe pressure and the ball bounced off the post padding to Jamie James who touched down. Joel levelled the scores with the conversion.

The Cougars had a score denied shortly afterwards, again for a double movement, but were quickly back in front when Kristian Baller touched down out wide for an unconverted score.

Back came the Warriors and they produced some smooth handling with halfbacks Joel James and Pat Hanslow providing the link to send Ash Kocerhan over to level the scores again.

However, the Cougars grabbed the lead back on the stroke of half time, Gethin King trundling unopposed under the sticks and Webb adding an easy goal for a 16-10 lead.

After ten minutes of the second period when the Warriors had the better of the possession, Hector Silva was forced into touch and the Cougars added two further scores to extend their lead to 26-10 and effectively seal the result.

Lewis crossed for his second before Danyl Davies escaped the defence to score a superb individual try.

Then came the pivotal moment Jones referred to. Joel James tried to grab too much land with a penalty and the Cougars got the ball back, Jamie James left the field shortly afterwards and with Solomon and Harris already on the sidelines, the Cougars set about taking advantage of their numerical superiority.

Davies did the spadework on another long run to unselfishly give Tala Petelo the touchdown before Webb crabbed across the Warriors’ defensive line looking for space before sending Chris Speck in.

In the final ten minutes, Webb crossed himself finishing a sweeping move from a quickly taken 20 metre restart before Mike Hurley brought the curtain down on a hard-fought win with his side’s ninth try.

The result leaves the Cougars at the top of the table and means that the Warriors travel to Oxford next week for what is a must-win game.