Gloucester Premier

Cirencester 22 Frampton Cotterell 25

CIRENCESTER played their part in a very entertaining game at the Whiteway on Saturday and were extremely unfortunate not to emerge the victors.

Cirencester started well and were awarded a penalty after just three minutes which Andy Waite slotted from out wide.

The home side continued to dominate and after some good interplay and swift handling from Joe Hammond and Waite, James Isaacs powered through a gap and scored under the posts; Waite converted to make it 10-0 after eight minutes.

New signing Mike Wrona (from Fairford) put a strong run from deep eluding six tackles and then won a penalty which Waite successfully converted to make it 13-0 after 11 minutes.

Frampton then launched their first attack and only strong defence by Ollie Newman denied them a try but a penalty was conceded which closed the gap.

A poor Cirencester line-out resulted in several phases for Frampton before they scored out wide and added a good conversion after 20 minutes (13-10).

Cirencester then went close with Sam Hill being stopped just short of the line, but Waite increased the lead with a Cirencester penalty.

Another Waite penalty made it 19-10 at half-time The two sides traded early penalties in the second half leaving Cirencester still nine points ahead.

But Cirencester began to tire as Frampton cranked up the pressure and after 63 minutes the visitors scored a well-worked try with the conversion attempt striking the post from the touchline (22-18).

Injuries began to take their toll on Cirencester with Sam Hill, Joe Hammond and James Renowden all having to be replaced.

Frampton then scored a converted try to go in front for the first time (22-25) with only eight minutes left to play.

After a break from inside their own 22, the final Ciren pass missed Wrona on the wing and the chance to snatch a late victory was missed.

Frampton held on to deny a much-improved Cirencester what they felt would have been a deserved victory.

MoM: Andy Waite for his good work in the centre and a superb 100 percent record with the boot which resulted in five penalties and a conversion.