ON a hot, cloudless morning at the Prince of Wales Stadium, Cheltenham, Drybrook started in the worst possible way: a clearance kick was charged down and Stow were gifted a try within the first two minutes of the match.

But the young Foresters kept their focus and forced their way back into contention: their forwards battled towards the Stow line with Jordan Taylor and Alex George to the fore although it took talented scrum half Connor Gardiner to dart over and tie the score.

Stow struck back minutes later as their back line stretched the Drybrook defence and their speedy left wing went over for a good try. Drybrook stuck at it and soon their own three quarters showed their pace: a missed pass unleashed fly-half George Cinderey who ran 50m for an excellent score, making it nailbiting 10-10 at half time.

Although Stow pressed hard after the break, Drybrook took the lead for the first time when centre Alex Iles broke from his own 22m line, evaded several tackles and made it deep into the Stow territory. Connor Gardiner took over at that point, outstripping the cover for a superb brace: Rhys Chandler converted.

Drybrook were now in the ascendant, forwards and backs working well together to snuff out attacks from the dangerous Stow back line. Fullback Luke Roberts and lock Will Greenway cleared up untidy balls, while try-saving tackles came in from several Foresters. Drybrook were eventually awarded a scrum on the Stow 22m line: centre Alex Iles took the direct route straight past his opposite number, scoring between the posts and giving Rhys Chandler an easy conversion.

With a comfortable 24-10 lead Drybrook now lost concentration, giving away a string of penalties and losing all direction. Twice they sat back and watched as Stow crossed the line, wiping out that hard-earned lead and setting up a tense last few minutes. But although camped for most of that time on their own try line Drybrook hung on and repulsed everything Stow could throw at them. When the final whistle went the roar from the crowd could be heard at the Mannings ground.

This was a committed performance from Drybrook: each and every player contributed to this third Plate win for this team, as the Foresters continue to punch above their weight.