Comfortable victory for Yatton

WITH both Dings and Yatton & Cheddar Under-15s struggling with illness and injury, the game at Lockleaze kicked off in heavy conditions with only 14 players each.

In less than a minute Kody Mortimer sprinted in to open the scoring with his first try of the season, topped off by a magnificent long-range conversion by Jack Edwards. Soon after, Lewis Hynam jinked his way through for his first try of the season, converted by Edwards.

From the restart, Yatton’s forwards drove deep into Dings territory, allowing second row Jamie Walker to also cross for his first try of the season, again converted by Edwards. Further tries from Hynam, Mortimer and Ross Henderson gave Yatton a 40-0 half-time lead.

After the break, Dings scored a well-deserved try, but Yatton hit back with a try for James Edwards. With no replacements, Yatton were reduced to 13 players after a leg injury to Kyran Gale.

Dings took advantage of the numbers and scored their second try, but Yatton again took the upper hand. James Edwards’ strong run and offload set up Mike Gane to score between the posts, converted by Jack Edwards to give Yatton a 54-10 victory.

The Under-8s got off to their strongest start of the year against Dings with some tremendous support play and several great early scores. Dings stuck at it and the half ended with Yatton 8-7 in front.

The second half saw Dings turn it around and despite some dogged Yatton defending, the match ended at Dings 15, Yatton 11.

The second game saw Yatton start the scoring first and at one point looked to be running away with the result following a couple of cracking runs from deep inside their own half that took the score at the break to 6-2.

Dings fought back strongly, but in the end it was Yatton who made the most of their chances and the match finished 8-7 to Yatton.

Yatton try scorers were: Caleb Clarke (7), Matthew Bailey (4), Cameron Fogg (3), Joe Galey (2), Cameron Bains, Connor Kane and Dominic Oliver.

WINSCOMBE Under-15s lost 5-0 to Chippenham in the final of the Bristol Junior Combination Cup held at Whitehall RFC.

Chippenham enjoyed most of the possession, the Winscombe defence, which has let little in all season, was equal to the task.

Eventually the Somerset side conceded a penalty in front of the post and Chippenham elected to tap it and run, exploiting a rare lapse in concentration to score wide on the right.

At half-time, Winscombe re-organised their back line, hoping to liberate some space, and soon Gabriel Counsell took a neat interception and broke through, only to be hauled down five metres out.

Some quick phases from Tom Cooksey and Josh Daly seemed to have taken them to the try line, but the Chippenham defence held out. In the final minutes of the game the Wiltshire side heaved over the line, over for the ball to be held up by Cooksey.

The whistle went soon after, leaving Chippenham holding the cup by the narrow margin of 5-0 in a match played in the best of spirits.

The Under-13s took on Taunton and appeared to have a more powerful pack, but the match was won by Winscombe up front, with their forwards having a superb game.

Tom Amer and Josh Hunt came close but it was Tristan Greene who crossed the line first, although the ball was judged to have been held up by the excellent Taunton defence.

Winscombe opened the scoring when the ball was passed down the back line to Callum Edwards who crossed for his first try for the club. The second score came when Combe’s George Harrison charged down a kick and pounced on the loose ball.

The second half started well when Joe Hartshorne emerged from a maul and powered his way to the line with a solo effort. Debutant Adam Elkins was also on the score sheet after a good chase from a Hartshorne kick.

Taunton rallied and their persistence paid off when their scrum-half crashed over.

The home side had the final say when Josh Hunt came close, but was denied by the referee who blew up for an earlier infringement as Winscombe ran out 20-5 winners.

HORNETS Under-10s hosted local rivals Clevedon on a sticky Hutton Moor pitch.

Unfortunately, Clevedon only had seven players so had to borrow two players to make it nine-a-side for both games.

This first game was nearly all Hornets. Alex Leeks put in a try saving tackle in the corner before Reeve Bailey danced through the Clevedon defence to set up a try and Lloyd Chudley led by example in the rucks.

Hornets won 5-1 with tries from Reef Morton (2) and one each for Sam Hughes, Tom Read and Lawrence Pilgrim.

In the second game, Hornets never got out of first gear. New boy Harry Lynn had a couple of strong runs up the wing and Tom Biggs did well acting as scrum-half. Clevedon clung on to their 1-0 score line and also held Morton up just short of the try line to win a much closer game.

The Under-11s played host to Clevedon and Hornets started poorly and conceded an early try. The hosts equalised with a try by Charlie Fairhurst following a direct run and off load by Luke Collins.

Hornets took the lead with a breakthrough try scored by Rhys Clarke and scored the final try of the game through Oscar Browne, following several phases of play to end the day 15-5 in their favour.

Special mention to Owen Brake who was outstanding all morning.

Squad: Amy Coles, Ayden Chenoweth, Bradley Lucas, Charlie Fairhurst, Connor Hill, Ethan Loveridge, Joe Frost, Kyle Godwin, Lockie Carver-Cox, Lois Bird, Luke Collins, Mitchell Hawkes, Nathan Langdon, Oscar Browne, Owen Brake, Rhys Clarke, Sebastian Wood, Thomas Howling and Tom Cattermole.

The Under-13s took the trip to North Bristol with a bare 15 players. Hornets struggled early on and were soon 17 points down.

Some good runs by Fitzpatrick, Entwistle and Holyday and some sniping runs by Solomon got Hornets close to the Bristol line. An infringement resulted in a penalty and straight off the training pitch, Holyday bulldozed his way over for a fine try, converted from out wide by Humphris.

The second half started badly for Hornets with two breakaway tries. A good catch and run by Mohide got Hornets deep into Bristol’s territory. They were awarded a scrum after Holyday was held up over the line. The solid scrum by the forwards and a quick heel by Tanner and the ball was placed on a plate for Solomon to pick up and drive over for another well-worked try.

Hornets were unable to break through again and another breakaway try by Bristol brought the game to a close, as Hornets lost 32-12.

The Under-7s enjoyed two tough games, winning one and losing the other.

Both games were high-scoring and although Hornets lost the first one 8-6, it could have gone either way. Try scorers were Oliver, Adam, Mason, Max, Harvey and Ethan.

After a break, Hornets came out all guns blazing in the second game to deliver a fantastic 10-6 win. A brilliant team effort saw tries going to Fin (3), Oliver (3), Adam (2) and Max (2). Harry the Hornet went to Cam.

The Under-8s took on Clevedon at home and close two close games. There were tries for Robson and James and there was good tagging from Alexander, Thomas and Charley.

Squad: Robons, Roman, Andon, Alexander, Bethany, Charley, Jamie, Daniel, Sam, Thomas, Alfie, Lewis, Louis, Daniel C and Daniel-Russ.

WESTON Under-12s surrendered their long unbeaten run away at Lansdown when they faced Bath.

Weston had the bare minimum 13 and it was soon clear Bath were a different proposition than recent opponents and the hosts went in at half-time 10-0 up.

After the break, Weston pressure led to a try for Mitchell Bird. Any hopes of a quick revival were soon dashed as Weston’s inability to close down Bath’s backs, coupled with several missed tackles allowed the home side a try, the final whistle coming soon after for a score of 15-5 to Bath.

Weston then took on North Dorset, again up the slope in the first half, and reached the break with neither team able to score a try.

Down the slope in the second half, Weston managed to exert some pressure and scored two tries through Jack Howard and Eddie Davies for a final score of 10-0 to Weston.

The Under-7s were invited to a festival run by Bath Rugby Club and took on Bath Youth, Corsham and North Dorset.

Weston’s first match was against North Dorset and produced some great tagging from Jacob Simpson, Will Flavin and George Nuttycombe. Ben Crook scored his first of the day followed by a great run for Tom Collard who made it to the line to score, before North Dorset replied.

There was more of the same in the second half and Simpson used his pace and scored two, with Flavin and Crook scoring one apiece. North Dorset also had a good half with three scores as the match ended 6-4 to Weston.

The second match was against Corsham and once again Crook opened the scoring with a great try in the corner. Nuttycombe ducked and dived to score two and Corsham matched try for try and the first half finished all square at 3-3.

Weston went down to six for the second half but that did not deter them, they continued to work hard and again it was try for try with both teams scoring two more, one each for Nuttycombe and Crook ending in a well-deserved 5-5 draw.

The last match was against Bath Youth and this was the hardest match of the day, but Weston again fought hard and did not lose their focus.

Again it was try for try and Nuttycombe opened the scoring and Bath replied, Nuttycombe scored again before Bath replied. Flavin scored next, only to be followed by Bath scoring. In the last seconds of the first half, Bath scored closely followed by a try for Nuttycombe to go in to the break at 4-3 to Weston.

In the second half, Bath scored two early tries. Simpson replied for Weston to level at 5-5, but Bath scored with only a few seconds to go to take the match 6-5.

The Under-8s travelled to Bath for a mini tournament with North Dorset, Corsham and Bath.

Weston played some of their best rugby of the season and managed to just edge a close contest with Bath 2-1, with Tom Blyth and Oliver both scoring excellent tries, aided by some superb support from Huw, James and Danny.

The match with Corsham was another close match finishing 4-4, thanks to some fine play by Danny (2), Tom and Oliver, who all managed to score thanks to fine support play from James, Sam and Huw.

North Dorset proved to be strong opposition and they scored two early tries. Weston replied with scores from Danny and Tom, but North Dorset scored a late try to run out 3-2 winners.

Weston were also invited to form a guard of honour for Bath RFC’s Heineken Cup match again Leinster and play an invitational match again Corsham School at the half-time interval, with 12,000 spectators watching.

This was again a close encounter with Corsham making the early running and scoring two quick tries, Weston responded with scores from Will and George, who both had exceptional games, with George making one superb tackle which received a large cheer from a large section of the onlookers.

Weston continued to keep it a close contest with fine play from Tom, Harry and Cameron, but two further tries from Corsham saw them run out 4-2 winners.