South Gloucestershire | Archive | 2005 | November | 5
From the archive, first published Saturday 5th Nov 2005.
Gloucester Division One Chipping Sodbury 38 Cheltenham Civil Service 5
EIGHT, nine and ten were instrumental in constructing Sodbury's most impressive victory for some time.
Number eight Nathan Spry showed his pace and awesome power in both attack and defence, while scrum-half Simon Clarke bossed the rucks and mauls discerningly, also displaying a crisp pass and darting muscular runs.
However, the beneficiary of these firecracker performances was willowy fly-half Steve Romanowski.
He was full of running as he moulded the game from behind a rampaging forward pack and his 23 points in the match was a worthy return for his efforts as was his man of the match award.
Enjoying the breeze at their backs, Sodbury spent long periods in the Civil 22.
Their desperation to slow Sodbury's ball allowed Romanowski to stroke over three penalties.
Roger Pierce-Jones then added a try wide on the left to give his side a half-time advantage of 14 points.
Sodbury had the elements in their face in the second half but negated them with superb running.
Tony Montilla was first to touch down, following a perfect pass from Neil Knight, the culmination of a breathtaking piece of adventure after a turnover on their own 22.
Pete Butcher then fielded a poor clearance and after finding a gap he burst forward, finding Neil Taylor in support. His pass back inside to Romanowski left a simple gallop to the posts.
For the fourth try, Romanowski swept play blind where he found Spry who, on receipt of the ball, set off furiously toward the whitewash leaving broken Civil Servants scattered along the 30-metre route.
The icing on Sodbury's cake was provided once more by the eight-ten axis. This straightforward score owed everything to Spry who by now was striding over the Ridings turf like a modern day colossus.
Before releasing Romanowski he ran through Civil like a medieval jousting knight, his ramrod arm fending off four would-be defenders.
Romanowski breezed in under the posts to leave a simple conversion before being toasted in the bar in the traditional manner.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008