THE visitors' scrum proved the vital difference in a poor game of rugby between Severn and Wye.

The Westbury eight delivered two penalty tries as the home side struggled for tempo and direction as an epic encounter with Cinderford midweek seemed to take its toll.

There were errors a-plenty as the rain made handling difficult but it was Westbury who started the stronger, establishing a foothold in the Ross 22.

The game settled into a routine of scrums and lines-out with the set pieces favouring the visitors.

Despite the efforts of the Ross front five the weight advantage enjoyed by the visitors told and the scoring was opened with a converted penalty try.

Ross looked to open up the game but handling errors and sound Westbury defence brought the game back to a set piece crawl and the visitors went in at half-time 10-3 to the good.

The second half saw a repeat of the opening of the first with Ross's efforts to keep out the Forest side ended with another penalty try.

At 17-3 the game was slipping away and Ross threw everything at Westbury. A neat try by Rhys Chandler who sold a dummy at the back of a ruck before skipping through the defence to score gave Ross hope. With Craig Boughton adding the points there was a glimmer of hope.

Another try by Chay Brine set up a frantic last five minutes but the visitors held on to claim the points.