Holcombe sinks Reds with treble

■By ROGER OPIE

Clifton…………………..36

Old Redcliffians….28

A DOMINANT second-half, led by their pack exerting serious pressure, underpinned a Clifton comeback from being 14 points adrift midway through the first-half against Old Redcliffians.

Early Clifton pressure told with outstanding No.8 Jake Holcombe going over and Ollie Millner converting.

The Reds responded with three tries all converted by Jack Gaper to open up a comfortable lead. A Clifton knock on from a kick gave territory for Oliver Stratton to grab his chance with Jack Gapper landing the first of four successful kicks.

Hooker Tom Ford added a second with centre Jon Cook bursting over for a further try after a long raking kick set up field position. Holcombe again though showed his strength by forcing his way over.

The strength of the home pack propelled prop Jake Buckley over with Millner converting to reduce the gap to two.

Millner added a penalty before Holcombe completed his hat-trick with replacement flyhalf Tom Quinlan adding the two. After intense pressure, Quinlan then dummied his way over and converted.

Right at the end, a brave comeback by the Reds gained them the try bonus point when Cook crossed.