Derby win for Winscombe

Nailsea & Backwell 5 pts

Winscombe 39 pts

WHEN they found themselves 32-0 down after 27 minutes, the home side were probably regretting their decision to play up the slope against a strong wind.

But to their credit, they regrouped for the remainder of the half and outscored the visitors by a try to nil.

Winscombe took the lead with an early penalty by outside-half Owen Howell. The Winscombe pack, especially the front row of Simon Thompson, Dan Fryer and Adam Scrase began to show their dominance as Nailsea conceded a penalty and Howell doubled the score.

Nailsea responded well and hit the post with a penalty attempt. Winscombe cleared the danger and when Howell made a break, he found George House on his shoulder to scythe through the cover for a try converted by Howell.

The restart was easily gathered by Aaron Ford in midfield and once again, after a couple of long kicks, Nailsea were defending their line. Howell tried to put James Flower through from a five-metre scrum, but the tackling was good.

From the next scrum, elected to be taken after a penalty award, the forwards decided to go it alone and Will Thomas scored a pushover try, converted by Howell.

Nailsea conceded another penalty, which also saw a player given a yellow card, and from the ensuing line-out, Fryer touched down as the forwards drove over the line. Soon after, Joe Fisher’s kick put Nailsea under pressure and from a scrum, Thomas touched down the bonus point try, with Howell converting.

In the final minute of the half, Nailsea exploited the defence short of numbers for an easy run-in to bring their only score of the day.

After the break, Winscombe were first to score when Howell made a break to halfway and passed inside to Flower who had House arriving in support to send him on a long run to the line for a try converted by Howell.

The last 30 minutes of the game, played in worsening weather, were scoreless with Winscombe determined to keep their line intact as Nailsea tried to put together some attacks.