Pershore 13 - Cheltenham North 29
JAN
For once, this certainly was a game of two halves. Pershore put in a
commanding first half performance, and from the kick off dominated
possession and territory. In fact, if the referee had been a little
stronger, at least 2 Cheltenham players could have been sin binned in
the opening fifteen minutes. Over ten penalties conceded in the first
fifteen minutes tells a story, with Pershore putting in excellent phases
of forward play, but at every potential scoring opportunity, Cheltenham
killed the ball, or slowed it down. However, Pershore did manage to
convert two penalties through the boot of Will Woodhouse to take a six
point lead. Against the run of play, and actually on Norths first
venture into Pershores half, quick ball spread wide, the full back
entered the line, and he created a simple overlap to touch down. The
conversion was missed. For the remainder of the first half, Pershores
hard work up front was unrewarded, and they took a 6 pts to 5 pts lead
in at half time. The second half saw a complete reversal in domination.
Cheltenham not only won the lions share of possession, but when they did
win the ball, their backs were incisive and always looked to utilise
space. With their quick back row winning the ball at the breakdown,
Cheltenham scored 3 well crafted second half tries, scored at regular
intervals. With the game coming to an end, Pershore managed to put
together some attacking phases of play, and eventually hard working
scrum half James Bishop barged his way over the try line, with Woodhouse
converting. With a resurgent Bedworth awaiting Pershore next week,
Pershore know that next weeks performance will have to be vastly
improved.
