CHOSEN HILL FP 23 NORTH BRISTOL 14

Chosen, who welcomed back Tom Bangs, Mike King, Josh Pettifer, Leigh Dangerfield and Ryan Hawkins from injury, had first use of the Brookfield Road slope and in an opening fifteen minutes that was played at a break-neck speed they went close to scoring on several occasions but were thwarted by a committed North Bristol defence.

After twenty minutes the home side finally got points on the board when their forwards drove a rolling maul towards the North Bristol line and when the maul collapsed centre Mike King was on hand to pick up and force his way over for a try converted by brother Andy.

On the half hour Andy King added a penalty goal and a minute later he put in a finely judged up and under kick that bounced perfectly beyond the reach of the North Bristol full back and into the hands of the rapidly advancing Scott Claridge who collected and raced in under the posts. King added the extras for a 17 – 0 lead but just before half time Chosen number eight Chris Jones was deemed to have not released at a tackle and was yellow carded.

North Bristol opted for a five metre scrum and after a second and third scrum collapsed the referee awarded a penalty try which was duly converted to get the visitors back into the match.

Five minutes into the second half and with Chosen still down to fourteen men, North Bristol produced a powerful scrum five metres out and they shoved the Chosen pack over the line for a pushover try that was converted to leave them just three points adrift but from the restart Chosen drove up-field and when the visitors infringed King banged over a penalty goal to put his side six points up.

In a frantic final ten minutes North Bristol tried desperately to get a score that would put them in front but Chosen’s defence held firm and with just minutes remaining Chosen managed a final assault on the visitor’s line which ended with King landing a neat drop-goal to ensure victory and deny the visitors a losing bonus point.

Despite the victory, Chosen remain in ninth place in the league and next week they travel to eleventh placed Bristol Harlequins.