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The sun shone brightly under glorious Leckhampton Hill providing perfect playing conditions as Counties 3 Gloucester North third and fourth placed rivals went toe to toe with the Gloucester side.

Young Patesians showed that youth and energy can prevail over age and experience in a crowd pleasing 4 tries to 2 bounce back to winning ways for the Cheltenham lads.

Lucas Town kicked off down the slope deep into the visitors 22 with Pats marauding pack pressurising an early error and superb recycling saw Archie Long on a charge to open the scores in the first minute with a try converted by Sam Rhymes.

Referee Bill Fishwick allowed the game to flow benefiting Pats expansive fast style of play as they ran riot down the slope with George Bygrave finally finishing off a dominant passage of threequarters play with a try, converted by Rhymes shocking the visitors as they suddenly faced a 14 point deficit after only five minutes of play.

Handling errors forced by the intensity of Pats line speed defence thwarted Widen’s fightback up the hill, Pat’s ferocious flanker Jack Nelson ripped the ball from a seemingly certain scoring situation 5 meters out to charge downfield swatting off defenders Lomo style and leaving the crowd bemused as he chose to pass inside with the try line beckoning.

A well taken line out and drive saw the experience and power of captain Max Folkard being driven over by his pack to give the home side a commanding 19-0 lead as the halftime whistle blew. Widen showed their league status prominence with an early second half score following an accurate Jordan Walker cross kick to left wing Owen Potts to dab down converted by Walker.

Outstanding energy in defence the Pats doggedly defended their line against a huge onslaught and when irrepressible Archie Long found the ball at his feet a soccer style dribble Lionel Messi would be proud of saw him out pace allcomers with remarkable athleticism and a deft touch for the bonus point with an outstanding individual try.

A late Widen try somewhat flattered the scoreline as the final whistle drew a close to a closely contested affair that home side were really never in danger of losing.

Norman Bell

(Posted by Laurence Hale)