PROUD STONE HAILS HIS ALL GOLD HEROES

The University of Gloucestershire All Golds take their place in the first round of the Carnegie Rugby League Challenge Cup after a hard-fought 33-14 win over Rochdale Mayfield in Lancashire.

Two tries in the opening three minutes of the second half turned round a 10-8 interval deficit and set the students on their way to the next round where they face the long journey to Cumbria to meet Millom, who have a long and proud cup history.

Head Coach, Ken Stone was justifiably proud of his team after the match "The guys stepped up today. We knew it was always going to be a difficult test especially against Rochdale who have traditionally done very well in the Challenge Cup rounds but the guys stepped up to the plate and performed very well".

They got off to a perfect start when Phil Cowburn crossed for a fourth minute try. Rory Sharratt added a second seven minutes later but Mayfield hit back with tries from Ben Simpson, goaled by Iuean Higgs, and Carl Abraham to lead 10-8 at the break.

The All Golds were happy to go into the dressing rooms just two points adrift as former Bradford Bulls, Hull and Huddersfield Super league player Matt Calland drove over the line only to be prevented from grounding the ball by a superb Jordan Rice tackle.

Stone says that the talk in the dressing room was calm. "We knew that we had the fitness; we knew that we just needed to keep our shape and complete our sets.

"We had the wind and a little bit of the slope and we knew we had to take advantage of that by putting the wingers under pressure with the high ball".

The teams emerged for the second half under leaden skies and Matt Bradley immediately carried out the plan with a towering bomb that the Mayfield winger misjudged in the swirling wind. James Gahan followed up with a crunching tackle to dislodge the ball and James Greene claimed the score.

The heavens opened and on the All Golds next set with sleet driving into the faces of the Mayfield defence, Bradley repeated the trick. Again the hapless winger misjudged the ball and Gahan gathered to score by the posts.

"That was the turning point in my eyes," said Stone as the All Golds now led 18-10. "When those kicks came off, Rochdale all of a sudden had an uphill struggle. Our guys were able to get on the front foot and on the back of quick play the balls we were able to complete our sets and perform really well".

Mayfield were not done, though, as a Sean Snape try had them back in the match with half an hour to go but another turning point came ten minutes later. Aidan Gleeson chased and touched down a neat kick from Ben Butterworth but he had come from an offside position and the score was disallowed. Had it not been, Mayfield would have led 20-18 and things could have been so different.

As it was, with their next possession, the All Golds scored through Cowburn to edge ten points clear and proceeded to expertly close the game out.

Matt Bradley slotted a penalty with fifteen minutes to go before Rice added an extra point with a drop goal with seven left. Stone was full of admiration for the way his team controlled the game. "I suppose that's having an understanding of the game as well," he said. "We knew we had to put ourselves in good field position to be able to do that but that was the call. We knew what we had to do and Jordan slotted it over.

"Then we had a little breathing space and we could finish off the last five minutes with some champagne rugby."

The All Golds did that with a rampaging run from Matt Fiander straight from the base of a scrum just inside the Mayfield half in the final minute that confirmed the victory.

"Overall, it's been great," concluded Stone as he savoured his side's success.

"The journey up has been a little bit long but we are going back to Gloucestershire proud rugby players and I'm a very proud coach".

Now the All Golds prepare for an even stiffer test with a long trip to Cumbria to face Millom. They will travel in good heart and their hosts will do well not to treat them lightly.

Chris Wilson
Media manager
Gloucestershire Warriors RLFC