Wadworth 6X Gloucester Three
Cainscross 19
Fairford 12
CAINSCROSS built on a successful pre-season with a winning start to their league campaign by 19-12 over a young Fairford side, who had already got a first win under their belts.

Hayden Maller got Cainscross off to a perfect start, with a scything run through the Fairford defence, leaving them grabbing at thin air.

With Max King missing from conversion duty, Maller took the kick, but just nudged it wide.

Fairford then started to get into their game, unleashing fast attacking plays, both over the top and out wide. Cainscross held firm for a long period, but eventually Fairford scored in the corner.

Cainscross then made a couple of Eddie Jones-style, 30-minute tactical changes, in a bid to nullify the threat from the visitors.

The tight five for Cainscross worked tirelessly all game and got a well deserved try through a strong bullocking finish by the granite-hard prop Ben Pollard.

Ben then also slotted the conversion, proving there’s more to a prop’s game than shoving in a scrum and knocking down brick walls!

An uncharacteristic lapse in concentration allowed the Fairford prop to run in under the posts, but that would prove to be Fairford’s last points, as wave after wave of well-worked Fairford moves were met with sterling defence from the Cainscross team.

Cainscross scored the last points of the game through the try-scoring machine Curtis O’Connell.

More dogged defence followed, with the second row pairing of Mike Weaver and Steve Wall doing the unrelenting hard work in the rucks.

The job became especially hard with the sin-binning of two Cainscross players, but it was the hosts that looked the stronger during that period, with Fairford unable to exploit the situation.

A great win for Cainy and proof that dour defence wins matches.