Cainscross.......................... 26

Painswick............................ 31

WITH a rest from their respective league campaigns and for what is over decade, Victory Park played home to the return of a much-loved local derby.

Cainscross came out of the blocks early with strong running into Painswick territory, but having repelled the early onslaught, Painswick found their rhythm and this led to a score out wide, conversion missed.

Painswick continued this pattern with Mayo pulling the strings from 10 and hitting the lines being run by his centres and they in turn releasing Chruchill on the wing, two more scores came through quickly with the sides turning round at half-time with score at 0 - 19.

A few changes were made by Cross to stem the tide, but the signs were ominous when Painswick went over for another score to make the uphill struggle greater.

For what has become a worrying pattern Cross came alive once they had their backs to the wall.

Ponsford nudged Cross deep into Painswick 22, King leapt high in the centre of the lineout to set up the maul, Stonebridge found himself at the back of the maul for the second time in so many weeks and guided the powerful Cross pack to the line. Conversion missed.

Driving play and an absolutely dominant front-row performance from Pollard, Stonebridge and Hale saw penalty after penalty arrive at scrum time or Wick pushed back at a rate of knots.

Simple rugby saw Young, who was playing his usual barnstorming game, barrel over close to the posts, conversion hit.

The next score was deep into the half with Carter gathering a loose ball and outstripping the defence to go in under the posts, conversions scored.

With five minutes to play Cross were looking at defeat with the scored pegged at 19 - 31, lesser sides would give in but the partisan crowd were about to be treated to a rousing end to the game.

The ball found its way to Maller who used his footwork to score close to the posts, conversion hit quickly.

Cross had one last throw of the dice with no time left on the clock they looked to push for the final score.

Indiscipline by Painswick saw three quick penalties push them back deep into their 22, Cross went back to their dominance and called for the scrum.

And with the scrum moving forwards they were forced to play the ball and unfortunately turned over.