Considering the amount of changes from the previous week, this was a good performance from Pershore. The pack had to be completely rejigged through unavailabilities, but they put in the hard yards, and forced a very big and powerful North pack onto the back foot for large periods.
The opening fifteen minutes saw most of the exchanges in midfield with the forwards and backs alike testing each other out. However, it was North that drew first blood when from quick turnover ball, they attacked the blindside, and a simple two on one gave their winger a clear run to score in the corner. The conversion was missed. Pershore attacked from the off, and quickly reduced the deficit with a penalty success from Adrian Hanson. The Cheltenham forwards then exerted some powerful froward drives, which resulted in a pushover try from a driving maul.
This time the conversion was good. Pershore then took over for the remainder of the half. Any ball that Cheltenham ran, they were quickly halted in their tracks with a tremendous defence with Alex Hanson, Matt Syphus, and Chris Bassett to the fore. With Adrian Hanson a revelation at fly half, Pershore soon began to take the initiative. A delightful croos field kick from Adrian Hanson was gathered by his brother Alex who touched down in the corner. The difficult conversion was missed.
Literally on the half time whistle, quick ball from a series of rucks was transferred to Andy Jenkinson, who sped around his winger, and chipped the full back, however, he was hauled down without the ball, and Pershore were awarded a penalty try, converted by Hanson. 15 to 12 to Pershore at half time. The second half start was not what Pershore wanted, North executed a simple miss in the centre, their winger got the ball inspace and simply cruised around the trailing Pershore cover to score in the corner, conversion missed. Pershore again pressed forward, but through a series of surprise decisions, and bad luck, could not convert pressure into points. Cheltenhams first excursion into Pershores
22 by their forwards, resulted in a penalty awarded against Pershore for not releasing the ball. The kick was successful. Pershore showing tremendous character, through everything they could at ther Norths defence, battering away at their try line. For the second week, a stray pass was kicked ahead, The Cheltenham winger gathered it on the bounce, and fed his supporting centre, who touched down in the corner to seal the win. This certainly was an improvement on the previous week, and with a little luck, Pershore could have sneaked the win. Pershore are at home on Sat 25 , KO 2-30 pm against Bridgnorth.