Tewkesbury Gain first Win of the Season

After a week without League fixtures Tewkesbury welcomed Frampton Cotterill to The moats for what was anticipated as a hard forward orientated game.

Frampton suffered a number of casualties during the pre match warm up and it took its toll as Tewkesbury raced into the lead with good forward play retaining the ball up front and then unleashing the back division who through a break from winger Matt Stone managed to off load the ball to Full Back Paul Baker to race in under the posts to score the first points of Tewkesbury’s season. Ant Richards converted 7-0

Tewkesbury looked to apply more pressure up front and from a poor kick from the opposition fly half Tewkesbury countered through Brad Maber and Paul Baker, shipping the ball to Stone who broke through near the 22. The forwards were magnificent and managed to enable the Tewkesbury Backs to have the quick ball they thrive off and eventually Baker managed to get through after some good offloading to score his 2nd of the game with less than 15min of the game gone. Richards converted 14 – 0

Tewkesbury looked to play a more territorial game but when they were pegged back in their own 22 they gave away a penalty in front of the sticks, which was duly converted by the Frampton 10. 14 – 3

From the restart Tewkesbury managed to claim the ball back and rumbled on forwards until they were awarded a lineout in the opposition 22. From a slick backs move it was Baker who slipped over the line for his Hat trick of tries in less than 26 minutes. Richards converted. 21 – 3

Tewkesbury maintain more possession and when the ball was fed out wide to Winger stone, he rode the wingers tackle and managed to out pace the covering defenders to score beneath the posts to extend Tewkesbury’s lead. Richards again converted. 28 - 3

With Tewkesbury slightly relaxing the Frampton side started to make inroads into a superb Tewkesbury defensive display and were soon to score in the corner due to a slight error at the base of a scrum. The Frampton kicker couldn’t convert and the score at half time was 28 – 8

Tewkesbury wanted to maintain there concentration levels and started playing the kicking game to keep the opponents pinned back in their own half, with numerous mistakes from the back 3 it was the forwards who looked to ease home the territorial advantage and when the forwards managed to rumble on and feed Richards the ball he managed to squeeze between the defenders to claim his first try of the season. He converted his own try. 35 – 8

Tewkesbury were tested in defence in the final quarter of the game with the Frampton side looking to bully the pack in the set plays, but the Tewkesbury side did not budge an inch backwards and after 10 minutes of sustained pressure Tewkesbury were able to clear up field and the Frampton winger drop the ball for Maber, Centre Ben Bowers and Richards to press up field and for Richards to claim another try which he converted again. 42 – 8

The final whistle was soon sounded to the joy of the Tewkesbury side who had managed to claim their first win of the season. Much was down to the strong forward display and especially the defensive edge that Tewkesbury had over the Frampton line up.

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