Gloucester Old Boys 17 – 7 Old Pats

A spectacle it certainly wasn’t, but effective it most definitely was, if there was ever any doubt about the importance of a height and weight advantage in the forward pack, the old boys settled this with a tactically astute display of dominance in the set pieces, effectively starving the visitors of possesion throughout large chuncks of the match.

The home side opened the scores with Spencer Miller and Nial Galvin combining well a typical driving maul into Pats territory giving elusive scrum half Liam Aherne the opotunityto dart over from a short range unguarded ruck for a try converted by Owen O’Keefe. Out rucked and out mauled Pats took the few chances they had pretty well, running from deep and looking the better side in open play and going close with breaks from Jamie Thornley, Sam Rhymes and George Bygraves but accuracy in finishing and an extraordinarily high penalty count against them repeatedly thwarted their young backs valiant efforts.

Out muscling their smaller opponents up front the Gloucester men enjoyed an abundance of possesion and territory and when left winger Taylor Unett found space out wide it was poor tackling from the visitors that saw him skip through three defenders to dab down in the corner on the stroke of halftime.

Pats rallied as the second half got underway but had no real answer to the huge Old Boys pack giving them no margin for error when in possession, tenacious Archie Long flung an audacious long pass to Thornley who’s failed attempt to scoop up a pass from his bootlaces prevented a certain score and another Thorley break found Rhymes on his hip but his flick pass to Johnny Fenley went to ground and another rare opportunity was missed.

Choosing the penalty option to kick for goal the left boot of Pat’s Lucas Town twice misfired but when the outstanding Thorley broke from hallway to find Rhymes close by he touched down under the bar to give the Cheltenham lads a glimmer of hope.
Tactical nous saw the Old Boys close out the game with a succession of rolling mauls whilst supporters trudged away at the close of the drab affair leaving Pats with much food for thought during their warm up as they face third placed Widen Old Boys next weekend.

Normal Bell

(Posted by Laurence Hale)