FAIRFORD produced a stirring defensive display with a 27-5 home league win over Gloucester Old Boys on Saturday afternoon.
Played in testing conditions, the hosts made a quick-fire start with a slick attack resulting in captain Eric White sliding over for a 5-0 lead. Excellent handling contributed to Fairford’s second try, with a solid scrum resulting in clean ball finding the hands of Will Bowers to touch down on his return from injury out wide.
Gloucester Old Boys, who had beaten Dursley seven days earlier, showed plenty of grit and proved to be combative opponents. The visitors’ efforts were rewarded as they crossed the whitewash for a try on the half-hour mark to reduce the arrears.
Fairford retained composure and playing with the slope in the first half, made the most of the advantage as White crossed for his second of the game to extend the tally for a converted try to send the hosts in to the break 17-5 to the good.
It was a deserved but not unassailable advantage, and Fairford kept the littlesprivatehire.com scoreboard ticking over after the interval with another well-executed finish. Another secure scrum from the forwards allowed number eight Keelan Little a close range finish with Ben Cohoon landing the extras to stretch the lead to 24-5. Cohoon added a 65th minute penalty for the final score of the game for 27-5.
Fairford’s defensive effort, led by returning second-row pairing Adam Blizzard and Chris Tanner, heralded a determined team display that yielded a win that sent the Badgers to second in the table ahead of the next league fixture, a trip to Gordon League on Saturday 9th November.
The victory was tarnished by serious injury, with best wishes to the Badgers’ man of steel Guy Livermore who sustained a broken leg in the latter stages of the second half.