Fairford RFC 11 Cirencester RFC Second XV 19

FAIRFORD bowed out of the Combination Cup in a game that failed to live up to expectations.

Cirencester dominated the first quarter but failed to capitalise on good possession.

A certain Cirencester try was judged to have resulted from a forward pass and Fairford woke up to the fact that they had a game to play and could not afford silly errors.

To their credit, Fairford came back through good driving mauls.

The first yielded a penalty for offside but the usually reliable Gareth Bowman missed a simple kick in front of the posts.

A second opportunity presented itself moments later when Cirencester's pack again transgressed and Bowman made no mistake in putting Fairford 3-0 ahead.

Shortly afterwards, young Bowman struck his second three-pointer of the day.

Cirencester then had a player sin-binned for treading on Fairford's scrum-half but the hosts failed to capitalise and it was the visitors who scored the first try of the day.

From a solid scrum platform, Cirencester's number eight picked up and quick hands saw their winger touch down in the corner. Fairford came back and should have scored a well-worked try but were held up short of the line and Cirencester cleared the danger.

Fairford began the second half as Cirencester had the first.

A good break, from Hadgekiss, set up a try for young prop Sawyer. However, the referee ruled that the ball had been held up and Cirencester were off the hook.

The match descended into a game of mauling and scrummaging, with neither side prepared to throw the ball around.

Midway through the second half, Fairford had their flanker yellow carded for handbags in front of the referee and Cirencester took full advantage.

A mis-kick fell to Cirencester's fullback who ran the ball back, through woeful tackling by Fairford's defence, to run in unopposed for a converted try under the posts.

Minutes later, he had a similar opportunity, this time from good forward play by Cirencester's pack who recycled the ball quickly and released their back line.

The fullback joined in the move and brushed of five tackles to dot down for his second try of the day.

Fairford rallied and took the play back into Cirencester's 22-metre area.

Several driving mauls saw them cross the line but again the referee adjudged the ball not to have been grounded cleanly.

Finally, from a quick ruck, second row Little drove through several tackles and scored the final try of the day. Congratulations to Cirencester and good luck to them in the final.

Fairford have entered a team for the Minety sevens next Saturday.

The coach will leave the Twin Rivers complex at 11am and return in time for the awards dinner at the Bull Hotel.