Gloucestershire Premier

Drybrook 46, Painswick 13

THESE are happy days at Drybrook. With three encouraging league wins and a cup success against a team from a higher division the Mannings Road club look well set for an excellent season.

They share top spot with Barton Hill and Chosen Hill and, judged on Saturday's performance, they will give anyone a run for their money, especially on their own ground.

Flanker and captain Neil Morgan was as happy as a sand boy with Saturday's performance.

"It can always be better. We dropped a lot of passes in the first-half when we created as many as eight scoring chances but we finished very strongly and dominated the last 20 minutes. Overall we played very well and it was a good team performance," he said.

Morgan is an all-action player who commits himself fully to ball winning but who also likes to be involved in broken play - he scored a couple of tries himself in this comfortable win.

But afterwards he praised the three-quarters for some sparkling running.

Morgan singled out scrum-half Danny Griffiths as playing particularly well and was also full of enthusiasm for the work of full-back Steve Skelton and centre Chris Rawlings.

Morgan will be seeking greater consistency as the season unfolds and recognises there is still much to be achieved if Drybrook is to take the title.

But he is confident the team could hold its own in Western Counties North and points to Drybrook's recent NPI cup success against Old Redcliffians, who play in the higher league, as evidence they could comfortably compete if they achieved promotion.

Coached by the experienced Peter Jones, Drybrook are in their third year in the Gloucestershire Premier Division.

"We finished third two years ago and second last season, so perhaps this will be the one," said club official Paul Mason.

But he cautioned against over optimism.

"We have yet to play the major contenders and judging from the results so far they will be Barton Hill and Chosen Hill. On their day most sides can beat the others and I'm sure there will be one or two surprises along the way," he said.

In Saturday's comfortable win tries were scored by Neil Morgan and Chris Rawlings (two each), Lee Ward, Danny Griffiths and Steve Skelton. Four conversions and a penalty goal were kicked by Neil Merrett.