Hornets Development man of the match gave an excellent performance against Castle Cary.

Castle Cary 25 pts

Hornets Development 44 pts

HORNETS travelled to Castle Cary in a match with a number of injuries holding up proceedings throughout.

Most of which were caused by big-hitting Hornets back rower Chris Francis, who enjoyed a storming man of the match performance on his return from Oktoberfest.

Hornets lost Lewis Brake to the sin bin after seven minutes and went behind three minutes later from a penalty. The visitors responded in kind when impressive fly-half Sean Disney knocked over a penalty, won by No 8 Dexter Nettleton.

Francis burst clear in midfield, the burly blindside was eventually hauled down, but the ball was moved wide to Charlie Carter to scoot in for an unconverted score.

Four minutes later and Francis burst clear from 30 metres out to touch down after he and Nettleton had worked a clever move from the base of the scrum. Disney converted to put Hornets 15-3 up.

Castle Cary immediately hit back with a converted try, but on the stroke of half-time, good work by Carter, Dec Dorrington and Disney set up Johnny Xanh to touch down to give a 20-10 lead to the Hornets.

After the break, Castle Cary scored a try before Francis added his second, converted by Disney, before the home side kicked a penalty.

Hornets effectively put the contest to bed with two quick tries both converted by Disney. Firstly hooker and captain Kieran Ward sprinted clear to touch down, followed by a score from Adam Vaughan.

Castle Cary refused to give up and again hit back with an unconverted try. Hornets’ final try came when outstanding props Ryan Hedges and Sam Holland caused a turnover at a scrum. The ball was moved to midfield where Carter’s superb line saw him race clear for his second score of the day.