FAIRFORD produced a stirring second-half comeback to lift the Gloucestershire Level 11 County Cup on Saturday afternoon at Painswick with a 32-24 victory, writes Chris Tanner.

The home side had started the better of the sides, and scored two early tries from Shaun Jeffries charging through two tacklers from five-metres, one converted by Craig Mayo, without reply in what looked like being a long afternoon for the hordes of travelling supporters who had boarded the team coach.

Painswick’s Sam Andrews added a try again converted by Mayo to give Painswick a 19-10 lead at half-time.

They then lost Andrews to injury and Fairford used the slope well, but the Badgers had to dig deep and on the day they played some of their best rugby of the season with a fast-flowing running game despite a stodgy surface.

Painswick’s Tom Coombs closed the gap to a point with a try.

However, centre Eric White crashed over for two tries, with young number eight Keelan Little (2), winger Mike Wrona and a late converted score from Laurence Griggs putting the seal on another memorable day in Fairford’s relatively short but proud history.

Both sides have found themselves evenly matched all season with Fairford just a single point ahead of Painswick in Gloucester Three.

Fairford welcome Painswick for a vital promotion test on Saturday.