County festival hosted by Hornets

HORNETS Under-10s played host to the county festival with a total of 16 teams entered.

The hosts entered two teams which consisted of Tom, James, Alfie, Kade, Alex, Finley, Louie, Ellis, Ollie, Roman, Sam, Robson, Andon, Daniel, James D, Sam H, Jack, and Sam P and both teams played four games.

It was a tough tournament and some good rugby was played by all. Hornets tackled well and fought hard, but it wasn’t enough to progress to the final stages of the festival.

The Under-15s took the short trip to local rivals Winscombe and came away with a 43-10 victory in a physical match.

Winscombe opened the scoring with a try, but Hornets replied straight from the restart when good work by Dover, Keano and Blake set up Constable to cross the line.

Winscombe’s big forwards kept coming at Hornets, but again turnover at the breakdown by Francis and carries by Fitzpatrick, Parkman and Holyday, set up Turner to score.

Good work at a ruck by Solomon and strong runs by Turner and Blake Williams set Chamberlain free to touch down. Right on half-time, Winscombe went over for what was to be their last score.

The second half saw a change of personnel and some positions. Again Winscombe lost possession. Dover made inroads and when Holyday was held up, Solomon was on hand to dive over, converted by Humphris.

Now Hornets were oozing confidence and scored further tries through Holyday, Dover and Taylor, with Humprhis converting twice.

Special mention to Freddie Dolcezza, who put in some big hits and some aggressive runs.

The Under-13s travelled to Taunton and opened the scoring through Quentin Querl against the run of play, but Taunton hit back with two tries, one converted.

Following some stern words behind the posts, the boys scored three more tries before half-time for a 24-12 lead.

The first was by Lockie Carver-Cox bursting through numerous defenders, converted by Bradley Lucas. Querl scored the second from halfway, converted by Charlie Fairhurst and the third was a great individual run from Bradley Lucas.

After the break, Taunton scored their second try, but Hornets managed to hold out.

Multiple changes at half time and Hornets were back in the same position as the first

Unfortunately, Carver-Cox received a nasty bang to the head resulting in an ambulance being called and the game finished five minutes early, with Hornets holding on to a 24-17 lead.

WESTON Under-11s were on the receiving end of a lesson in how to play rugby by touring guests Llantwit Fardre, who ran in a staggering 16 tries to Weston’s two.

They did this by playing a simple passing game. Top tacklers were Matthew James, Jack Rollings, Isaac Bliss and Jamie Meaden.

Weston’s tries were scored by Bradley Robinson and Jamie Meaden. Llantwit Fardre nominated Matthew James as Weston’s star player.

Two Welsh touring sides turned up to play the Under-9s and gave a harsh lesson in how to play good passing rugby.

First up was Valley Ravens and with the first play of the game the opposition scored and that set the tone for the first-half. Valley Ravens continued to score each time they got the ball and at halftime it was 20-0.

The second half was much the same, Weston nearly scored a couple of times, but were denied each attempt by excellent defence from Valley Ravens. The visitors scored twice more to take the full time score to 30-0.

The second match against Llantwit Fardre was a much better performance from Weston. The visitors scored early on, but Weston rallied to break through the defence. Llantwit Fardre scored five tries to Weston’s three with scores from George Nuttycombe, Kieran Panayi and Ryan Elderidge.

In the second half, Weston started with more determination with Jacob Simpson, William Crane, Nuttycombe and Elderidge putting in some excellent tackling and started to pass the ball around to create chances, which they took to draw the second half three tries each with scores for Jacob Simpson (2) and Panayi as Llantwith Fardre ran out 40-30 winners.

The Under-14s bowed out of this season’s Somerset Cup at the semi-final stage, going down by two tries to one to a highly-rated Keynsham side.

Weston soon had their hosts under immense pressure, with centres Eddie Davies and Jake Middleton looking threatening, ably supported by wing Josh Bloxham.

The Seasiders took the lead after some excellent offloading from props Jack Howard and George Bamsey sent centre Davies on a 50-metre dash for a try under the posts, Bamsey adding the extras for a 7-0 lead.

Keynsham scored an unconverted try against the run of play just before half-time, making it 7-5 to Weston.

After the break, Keynsham used the wind well and had Weston penned deep in their own half, but Weston’s defence was solid, particularly the outstanding back row of Mitchell Bird, Josh Gardner and Tom Hughes.

With five minutes remaining, Keynsham scored a close-range converted try to move 12-7 ahead.

Weston chased down the re-start and soon had the home side defending for their lives. After several home infringements, a five-metre penalty was awarded with a minute left. Weston chose to tap and go, but with the line begging, a knock on ended Weston hopes.