Feast of open rugby at Weston

WESTON Under-12s welcomed near rivals Clevedon to the Rec for what turned out to be a feast of open rugby.

Weston handed debuts to four players - Josh Bloxham, Tom Hughes, Liam and the excellent Jacob Manning were first to open the scoring through prop Jack Howard, converted by fly-half Archie Tilsley.

Not to be outdone, the larger Clevedon team quickly rallied and levelled the scores. The rest of the first half was then dominated by Weston, with props George Bamsey and Howard putting in some fine runs, combined with some crunching tackles and support from the whole Weston pack, backed up by the swift backs led by the new half-back combination of Manning and Tilsley.

The final score of 40-12 to Weston was on the day a fair result. Mitchell Bird had a good day as did his second row partner Josh Gardner, while hooker Jimmy Bamsey had his best game so far.

Try scorers: J Howard (2), G Bamsey (2), J Gardner and A Tilsley, Tilsley adding five conversions.

The Under-8s travelled to Bridgwater for their first away game of the season. They started off well with good tagging by Tom and James forcing Bridgwater to work hard for their first try.

Danny took the ball from the restart and ran the half of the pitch to score Weston’s first try. Jayden and then Tom made a good run, only stopped just short of the line. Sam and Ollie showed some fine passing skills getting the ball out to Jayden who scored Weston’s second try, but at half time the score was 5-2 to Bridgwater.

A throw by Tom to Danny saw him score again. There was great tactical tagging from Thomas and Sam and good running and passing between Danny, Tom, Thomas and Jude who scored Weston’s fourth try. The second half was a much closer game with both sides scoring two tries.

The Under-9s gave a much-improved performance at Bridgwater. Using a total of 19 players, Weston scored two tries whilst conceding seven. Alfie Calcott scored from long range and Charlie Harding scored when he crashed over.

Alfie and Jamie Meadon led the way with some fine tackling and there were also some textbook tackles made by Max Dunstone, Tom Burge and George Charalambous. Jackson Webb ran well from scrum-half as did Dylan Way at fly-half. Louis Warren showed his pace around the park and Harding capped a fine all-round performance with a much deserved man of the match.

The Under-7s got off to a great start at Bridgwater with George Nuttycombe and Jacob Simpson scoring early tries.

Bridgwater were kept out with some excellent tagging by Tom and Harry, who prevented Bridgwater scoring more than once, but Bridgwater scored to make it 3-1. Another try by Ben Crook helped Weston to increase the score.

The second half was more evenly matched with Bridgwater scoring two quick tries. Weston put in some great tagging and once again George and Jacob added to the scoreboard. Bridgwater scored two more tries, but great defence play from Riley and Cameron made the final score 8-5 to Weston.

Although Bridgwater scored first, the Under-11s had early chances when Josh Edwards made some great runs.

Strong defence by Will Durston, Harrison Land and Rhys Matthews was soon rewarded when Max Seymour-Shove punched through for Mathew Ogborne to equalise. Bridgwater went ahead until Mateo Turvey put Joe Harper over the line as Weston led by two points at the break.

The second half saw Bridgwater score three tries, but Harper and Ogborne replied with their second scores. Jack Schafer was stopped short and the combined effort of Durston and Harper were also stopped just short, before Bridgwater scored again. Finally, great team play team enabled Harper to score twice giving Weston a narrow 40-38 victory.

HORNETS Under-10s entertained Old Bristolians in an evenly matched encounter.

Old Bristolians scored first and Reef Morton replied for Hornets. Tim Morris nearly ran through their defence and for Hornets there was good tackling from Reeve Bailey, Alex Leeks, Harry McFarling and Adam Dawood.

Hornets were 2-1 down at the break and upped their game to win 3-2. Ben Cooke and Ben Graves helped in the driving mauls, with Tom Biggs also getting stuck in. A good run by Lawrence Pilgrim and offload to Morton tied the score and then Morton completed his hat-trick by charging through several players to touch down. Man of the match was Lloyd Chudley.

The Under-10s are looking for new players to boost their squad. If you are interested, please contact Andy Graves on 07810 078750 or e-mail a-graves@sky.com

The Under-13s travelled to Yeovil to play another huge side at Ivel Barbarians. Hornets started slowly and were soon two tries and a penalty down. Good line-out ball by Cocking, backed up by Dover and Mohide saw Hornets back in the game.

After the break, a superb effort from full-back Taylor, and good positional kicking by Humphris built up the pressure. A break by Keane Williams got Hornets inside the 22. Good work by Robinson, Parkman and Holyday set up Solomon to score, converted by Humphris.

Hornets forced Ivel to concede a scrum 10 metres out and a great pick-up and run by Holyday levelled the scores. A lack of control close to their own line after the restart saw Ivel’s huge forwards cross to take the match 18-13.

Special mention to Jack Caple, who had a great game on his debut.

The Under-11s played host to Old Bristolian, who were first to score. Hornets responded with a try by Charlie Fairhurst just before half-time.

In the third quarter, Hornets started to get on top with some good interaction between the forwards, as Mitch Hawkes put the home side ahead. Deep into the final quarter, OBs equalised with only minutes to go.

Squad: Amy Coles, Ayden Chenoweth, Bradley Lucas, Charlie Fairhurst, Conner Hill, Eddie Williams, Ethan Loveridge, Joe Frost, Kyle Godwin, Lockie Carver-Cox, Lois Bird, Luke Collins, Miguel Hawkes, Nathan Langdon, Oscar Browne, Rhys Clarke, Sebastian Woods and Tom Cattermole.

The Under-16s produced a devastating display against Old Redcliffians in the Bristol Combination Cup and forced referee David Martin to stop the game after just 22 minutes as Hornets moved 50 points clear.

There was good play from Craig Nicholls, Alex Colborne and Kieran Ward in this dominant display. Tries were scored by captain Ryan Massey, Josh Wheeler, Adam Francis, Sam Balkham (2), John Xanh, Conor Littlewood, Andrew Wheller. Francis added four conversions and Connor Davidson one.

The Under-15s squad travelled to Bristol to take on St Brendans in the first round of the Bristol Junior Combination Cup.

Hornets were in determined mood and attacked from the start and scored two tries by Curtis Langdon, both converted by Lawrence Ware. Hornets’ third try was scored by Jamie Hoare. The first half finished with a further two tries, both scored by Alex Parslow, converted by Ware.

The second half was played against the wind and St Brendans put Hornets under pressure. Good defensive work from Chris Sage, Nathan Scott, Scott Warman and Michael Doe prevented St Brendans from scoring. Hornets started to come back into the game and Gareth Brock was held up before he could touch down. The final try of the game came from Byron Marriott, converted by Ware for a final score of 40-0.

The Under-12s played Old Bristolians in their first match of the season. Hornets were pleased to welcome several new players and Tyler, Michael, Rhys, George, James and Liam all made their debut for the team.

Nick showed that his kicking has improved over the summer months, Michael and Jordan passed well and Jake and Dan were on good form. The front row of Aiden, Andrew and Ieuan demonstrated their strength, but unfortunately it was not enough. Despite a blistering run from Tyler which set up Dan to score a great try, Hornets lost the match.

The Under-8s took on Old Bristolians with a squad consisting of Robson, Roman, Andon, Alexander, Bethany, Charley, James, Daniel C, Sam, Thomas, Alfie, Lewis, Daniel C, Daniel and Russ.

The squad showed a big improvement with good defence from Roman, Alfie, Bethany and good tagging from Sam and Daniel. James, Andon, Bethany and Daniel showed improvement during the day.

HORNETS Under-12s are looking for more players. Training is held on Sundays at 10am. For more deatails call Helen on 01934 624785.

HAVING beaten Bristol Saracens in an earlier round, Winscombe Under-13s were drawn against North Bristol in the first round of the Combination Cup.

Winscombe started well as Patrick Merryfield ran deep into the visitors’ 22. The forwards recycled the ball and Joe Hartshorne passed out to centre Gabe Bell to score.

Neil Mathieson went close after a good run down and then Merryfield dropped the ball just short of the line. The Winscombe pack were in fine form and they took the scrum against the head with No 8 Josh Hunt controlling the ball. He picked up and broke through the defence to score. Will Macarthur converted for the extra two points.

George Harrison and Tristan Greene both had good runs before North Bristol were rewarded with a try in the corner.

After the break, Greene pounced on a mistake to score the home side’s third try. Thomas Amer then intercepted a pass on the halfway line and touched down under the posts, allowing Macarthur an easy conversion. North Bristol had the final say with a converted try for a final score of 24-12 to Winscombe.

For the first time ever, the Under-15s hosted two simultaneous home fixtures at the Rec. One team faced Cleve in the first round of the Bristol Junior Combination Cup, the other took on Cotham Park in a friendly.

The cup match was a tense affair between two closely matched sides. Winscombe took the lead when Tommy Parsons was prevented from grounding the ball when dragged back by his collar, leading to a penalty try.

At the start of the second half, good passing from Sam Rees, Josh Daly and Cameron MacBeath set up Darren Atkins to score. Atkins added his second conversion of the game.

Cleve quickly exploited lapses in concentration to score two tries. Neither was converted, but with 20 minutes to go the scores stood at 14-10. Winscombe then found some extra reserves of energy and Sam Hartshorne made a timely interception for try, again converted by Atkins for a final score of 21-10.

Meanwhile, on the next pitch Winscombe were having a torrid time against an impressive Cotham pack. Some stalwart defending from Harry Townsend and James Semple kept the game scoreless until midway through the first half. Cotham then began to score regularly, but Winscombe hit back with a try for Kieran Westcott.

The second half was more of the same, although Winscombe’s Tom Hopestone-Bell was unlucky to be hospitalised by one of his own team while sportingly making up the numbers for Cotham.

Following a break by Robbie Wallace, Westcott pulled back another try for the home team, converted by Brady Woods, but Winscombe struggled to cope with Cotham, who continued to score tries to make the final score 55-12.