Crosfields made their mark from the off, challenging the Chester defences to open up their account in what turned out to be an exciting and high scoring game.

Chester responded immediately, with Joe Wilcock popping up a well timed pass to open up a drive which saw the Gladiators marching back down the pitch and close to the Vipers try line. From this point Alex Woodbury sensed daylight in the Vipers defence and hammered through to draw the game level.

The end-to-end excitement continued with Vipers testing Chester at each set, and it was great to see Scott Jones shouting instructions along Gladiators’ defensive line and keeping the boys’ heads in the game.

It took some determined running from Finley Bacon to set up Joe Wilcock, who with a classy dummy half pass to throw the Vipers off the scent, weaved through to score Chester’s second and draw level.

Back in defence and Otto Zorn, Sepp Karnick, and Luke Johnson played like Gladiatorial Retiarii to take down the Crosfields runners in their repeated attempts to drive straight through the center of the Chester line.

With the Vipers ahead again, Sepp Karnick and Otto Zorn combined well with some fantastic lay offs in a set which ended with Max Follows carrying four Vipers with him over the try line to even the scores once again.

Into the final period and with the Vipers putting in some big hits on Luke Johnson and Joe Wilcock to deny Chester just short of the try line they stretched their lead to two tries. But this didn’t dent the boys’ enthusiasm and Finley Bacon raced right back with a fabulous and elusive run, covering half the pitch to score Chester’s fourth.

Scott Jones and Finley Bacon then demonstrated lovely passing skills and cheeky spinning runs to keep Chester within touching distance of the Vipers. The match was capped with two scores from Max Follows, who churned though the Vipers team once more, taking most of them with him to score again.

Assistant coach Chris Buchan was rightly proud of the performance again. He said: The boys played strongly against a more experienced side putting in some hard tackles and passing the ball well, they continue to develop and improve each week”.

Magic moment awards went to Finley Bacon for brilliant attacking runs and his tremendous try and to Max Follows, Chester’s very own mini AT-AT according to head coach Tin Wilcock. Chester Gladiators would like to thank the Crosfields players, coaches and parents for a friendly, competitive game and a thoroughly enjoyable morning.