Gloucester Premier

Whitehall 51 Cirencester 0

IT was another glum day at the coal face as Cirencester were well and truly beaten by a strong Whitehall team on a muddy pitch in Bristol.

Cirencester again travelled with an under-strength side and late drop-outs left them with only two replacements.

Club chairman Tim Thompson again was called to play in the front row and did extremely well until injury forced him to depart the field after 50 minutes.

Cirencester had numerous opportunities to score and enough possession to put Whitehall under pressure. With a little more luck they could have scored four tries but the metre immediately in front of the Whitehall line was like a brick wall they just could not break down.

Cirencester's defence was the main concern; the first-up tackling was poor and the battle at the breakdown was lost as the powerful Whitehall unit never let up for 80 minutes.

Injuries played their part and Cirencester were forced to play with 14 men for the last 25 minutes, having used both replacements and lost two of the front row.

At least most of the difficult matches are now behind them and some new recruits are expected to be joining the club in the next couple of weeks, as well as a return for some of the long-term injured.

Stand-out performances on the day came from Dougie Cooper, Andy Waite and Warren Rumble.

James Isaacs, a new signing from Tetbury, made a solid start on his first team debut.