After playing a lot of good rugby and having a larger percentage of the territorial advantage, they lost by a sinlge point for the second week running.

The visitors, playing against the wind, had the best of the first twenty minutes, but all they had to show for their efforts was a Matt Fogarty penalty goal. Cirencester had their best spell of the half after this when the Stroud defence was put under severe pressure and eventually cracked when the home side crossed for an unconverted try and a 5-3 lead.

Stroud's reply was immediate and, after 27 minutes a good spell of possession put pressure on the Cirencester defence and a good passing movement put Luke Dando in for a try. Fogarty added the conversion for a 10-5 lead.

Stroud continued to enjoy plenty of possession but, five minutes before half time, Cirencester reduced the arrears with a penalty goal. However, the visitors were full value for their two point lead at the interval.

A decent battle in midfeild was occuring with Dando and the Cirencester 12 locking horns on plenty of occasions with strong running from both. Other noticable performaces were from Fogarty, playing our of position at 10, Jordan Phipps, playing in only his 3rd senior game (and in his 3rd different position) along with Dave Brooks, Rob Higgins and Steven Dunmore within the pack.

The second half was only three minutes old when Cirencester found themselves a man short, their prop being sent to the sin bin after a touchline fracas, However, try as they might,Stroud couldn't make the man advantage tell. Scrum half Sam Griffiths, who was prominant throughout, made several sniping runs but moves all too often broke down.

Considering nearly half of the Stroud side boasted only a handful of appearances between them this was not completly unsurprising as there is no tougher place to learn your trade than a full local derby.

On 55 minutes,with Cirencester now back to full strength, Stroud were penalised for not staying on their feet at the breakdown and the home side landed the kick for what turned out to be the deciding score.

Danny Price replaced Will Weaver and Rob Sealey replaced Phil Middlemiss but, even when Cirencester lost another man to the sin bin, the vital score just would not materialise for Stroud. The final whistle sounded with Stroud rather unlucky losers but, with the talented youngsters continuing to learn, the wins will surely start to come.

Despite this loss, Stroud are playingthe right brand of rugby and do have some talented players within the squad who are showing signs of what surely will come. It is great to see a Stroud pack start to dominate games again and so long as we can avoid further dispruptions in the back line through injuries and unavailability then Stroud will start producing the wins that they absolutle deserve

On Saturday, Stroud are at home to Chard, kick off 3.00pm. The Nomads are away to Painswick also at 3.00pm.

Stroud:-C.Toon; J.Phipps, L.Dando, H.Foote, H.Phillips, M.Fogarty, S.Griffiths, O.Smith(capt), W.Weaver (rep.D.Price), B.Brinkworth, J.Hopkins, R.Higgins, P.Middlemiss(rep R.Sealy), S.Dunmore, D.Brooks. J. Stratton (rep)
Star Man:- Sam Griffiths.

Stroud Rugby will be hosting their annual quiz next week starting at 7pm at the club. Come along and join the fun and try to wrestlte the Champions crown from Adam Tarplee & Co, Champions for the past 2 years!