Thank you to all who took pictures of the match. Pictures for this match report were taken by Mark Hartley.

Ledbury were our opponents today in the second round of the National Cup. They had already beaten Old Luctonians – our conquerors in last years roud three and we knew they were a good side.

A big abrasive pack, some strong ball carriers and a good scrum half pulling the strings. However, we are no mugs ourselves and had a game plan to move them around.

Things looked worrying  early on as, playing with the wind and slope, they kicked deep into our territory and were awarded a penalty try when we dropped the resultant driving maul. Frankly, if they repeated this ploy more often, we’d have been in real trouble. As it was, we got some ball and strung some phases together scoring two tries of our own with a delighted Liam driving over on the short side of a ruck for the second. With the wind against and a wide angle, neither try was converted.

The ref was getting increasingly irate with both sides infringing at the breakdown and yellow carded Jonny for holding on after a tackle.

Late in the half, Ledbury scored two forward driven tries to lead 17-10 at the break. We were in touching distance and, using the slope with good kicking we turned their defence and moved their tiring pack around.

Space became more available and, when their scrum half was shown a card for infringing, we made our advantage tell. Ethan scoring from an off load after Sam chased down a kick, Cam forcing over from short range and Jonny cutting through the traffic to put down under the posts.

A penalty from in front stretched the lead and when Freddy continued to annoy the opposition by darting over from a ruck, we were almost out of sight.

As energy levels dropped, tempers rose and the final few minutes were tetchy. Ledbury did force a consolation score late in the half but it was too late.

Aside from a bizarre attempt at removing the shirt from our scrum half, there was not time for more as the ref blew the whistle.

An excellent show of skill, commitment and teamwork by all the lads. Allez les Pats!!

Ledbury 22 – 39 Old Pats

Tom Perris