6 on the Bounce!

The 1st XV carried their winning league form into the Bristol Combination Plate competition, defeating Chipping Sodbury scoreless under lights at Aretians' ground in Patchway after several postponements. Likely opponents in the quarter-finals are Old Colstonians.

Tim Coughlan, switched from scrum-half to fly-half in the absence of Aaron French, was off-target with an early penalty chance but then made the break from which lock Matt Rollings forced his way over for a sixth minute try. Coughlan converted and added a penalty 15 minutes later to make it 10-nil.

Rollings suffered a rib injury in scoring and was eventually replaced by Gerry Creber while skipper Ben Gilmore took a heavy knock and gave way to Fred Young at loosehead. There were more comings and goings on the half-hour when Marcus Stratton and his opposing lock were sin-binned after a scuffle off the ball. Sodbury's No 8 was then shown a red card for getting involved after the whistle.

With Matt Poulson returning at scrum-half after several months absence and Jack Hendy making a comeback in the centre, Gordano were creating plenty of chances but not quite finishing things off. Sodbury remained competitive in the scrums despite being a man down and suffering a succession of injuries - but they offered little in attack.

Time for a change in tactics. Coughlan had a sighter from 40 metres early in the second half before chipping over a shorter-range penalty to extend the lead to 13-nil on 58 minutes. Then he broke through the cover but slipped trying to sidestep the fullback. Fortunately, Stratton was in support to feed a scoring pass to teenager Rob Dyer in the right corner. Coughlan's conversion fell short but he wrapped things up with a 30-metre penalty almost immediately afterwards to put the result beyond all doubt.

That's six wins on the bounce ahead of a trip to Old Reds on Saturday.