Tribute Western Counties North

Cheltenham 24 Wellington 19

AT the risk of sounding like a stuck record, Wellington lost a game they could so easily have won when they travelled to Cheltenham on Saturday.

Early pressure by Wellington saw them camped deep in the Cheltenham 22, however they were unable to convert this into points and Cheltenham were able to work their way out of trouble and exert pressure of their own.

After fifteen minutes Wellington lost fly-half Paddy Jarman to a leg injury after he get stuck at the bottom of a ruck close to the Wellington try line. A few moments later, Cheltenham got the first score of the day, when they mauled the ball over wide out.

Full-back Josh Herbert, who had an excellent day kicking off the tee, converted from wide out.

It was not long before the hosts were back on the attack again, and when Wellington failed to take a couple of opportunities to clear their lines, Cheltenham managed to get the ball over the line, but were held up short.

The resulting five metre scrum saw fly-half Sam Coles come on a hard line back towards the scrum, and evade a couple of tackles to score.

The conversion saw Wellington go 14 points behind.

Wellington were now able to put some phases together and a defensive kick from the home side found Tom Hawkings on halfway, and he skipped through a couple of tackles to dot down under the posts. He converted his own try to make a much more respectable 14-7.

On the stroke of half time, a penalty for offside on the Wellington ten metre line saw Herbert step up and stroke the ball over to give Cheltenham a 17-7 half time lead.

On 50 minutes, the Wellington pack gained good field position and when the ball was shipped to Will Brewer, who cruised in under the posts.

Hawkings conversion made it a three point game.

On 65 minutes however, a mix up at the base of a Wellington scrum saw the ball turned over and quickly moved wide for another seven pointer scored by Tom Lait and converted by Herbert.

Such is the spirit of this young side though they refused to lie down and come storming back.

A lineout was mauled from 15 metres out over the try line, and prop Lee Wadham came up with the ball.

With time running out, a promising Welly attack was stopped illegally and the miscreant sent to the bin.

Another lineout followed and was being walked at pace towards the hosts line.

Cheltenham had no choice but to collapse it four metres out, when a try seemed inevitable - but the referee only awarded a penalty instead of a penalty try and with no time for a lineout Wellington elected for a scrum, which came to nothing.