Hornets impress at Clevedon

HORNETS Under-7s took the short journey north to Clevedon with a squad of 22 players.

After a warm-up and a couple of games, both squads came together for a minute’s silence, which was impeccable kept.

With the games back under way, both squads produced end-to-end action with several of the games being tied or closely fought.

The big plus was the players taking control of the games themselves by communicating to each other to ensure forward passes were at a minimum and support was always available.

Any Year 2 child interested in playing rugby can find further details on the Hornets webpage bit.ly/HornetsU7

The Under-11s made the short trip to play local rivals Clevedon and all the players observed a minute’s silence.

Clevedon scored first and also converted. Hornets picked things up in the second half with Harry McFarling being held up just short of the try line before Clevedon scored again.

An excellent Keelan Hodges-Swales kick resulted in Hornets winning the resulting line-out and then Tom Read scored. A second try was also scored by Read as he blasted through several players to touch down.

Hodges-Swales and Alex Leeks converted both tries and Hornets won the first game 14-12.

The second game was also close, but this proved to be the Sam Hughes show and with Mike Stack being a revelation at scrum half, Hornets were stronger.

Hughes ran from deep in his own half to score, but this was called back as he put his foot into touch. He made amends by repeating the run to score.

In the second half, following an excellent passing team move from a scrum, Hughes touched down in the corner. Although both conversions were missed, Hornets won the second game 10-0.

The Under-12s treated their travelling support to a seven try defeat of Clevedon. Tries came at regular intervals during the three periods of the game and their greater penetration when going forward was the major difference.

As the score line increased, the Hornets’ coaches were able to experiment with some different combinations in an effort to play a more expansive game.

This worked well with some splendid work from the backs as the forwards produced quick ball. Try scorers were: Charlie, Bradley, Oscar, Reece and Luke (3).

The Under-8s played three games, due to having a large squad. In the first game, both teams started strongly with tries being exchanged freely. Thanks to a generous pitch, individuals were able to shine with some great long runs.

A tightly contested match finished with Hornets narrowly winning 7-6. Scorers: Adam, Oliver (2), Owen, Max, Louis and Maison.

The second match saw Hornets working better as a team with some lovely support play and passing. Unfortunately, despite some flowing rugby Hornets were thwarted by the touch line which cost them three turnovers that Clevedon clinically exploited to earn a deserved 4-3 win. Scorers were Oliver, Harvey and Greg.

With one game each, this would be the decider. The spectators were rewarded by a complete performance by Hornets, who tagged hard to force turnovers which, with great running, support and passing, were converted into tries.

Clevedon never gave up and Hornets with a score in the dying seconds secured an exciting 8-6 win.

Scorers were Adam (2), Oliver (2), Harvey, Greg, Maison and Harry.

Maison and Max were recognised for their efforts and contribution to the team. The full squad was: Haydn, Adam, Daniel, Owen, Cooper, Oliver, Max, Harry, Harvey, William, Luke, Louis, Greg and Maison.

The Under-9s travelled to Clevedon with a good turnout and managed to win one game out of the four played.

Lara made some fine tackles and there was some great running from Jake and Daniel in a great team performance.

WESTON Under-15s hosted Hornets and proved to be too strong for their local rivals, running out 21-10 winners.

Weston began to get the upperhand in the loose and slowly began to take control. DJ Wills, Sol Ward and Aivaras Gaciauskas began making ground. After Ward was held up over the line, Harry Lewis smashed through the Hornets midfield to score, converted by James Aucott.

Hornets had the last word of the half with a penalty to send the sides in at half-time with Weston leading 7-3.

After the break, Weston extended their lead when before Gaciauskas crashed over, following good work from Mike Ward and Rhys Langley. Aucott was again on target with the conversion.

Ashley Hardman, Keinen Holbrook and Dan Smith all made outstanding contributions, while Alex Tyler made a superb tackle as Hornets threatened. Weston replied when a loose pass was picked up by Tom Sugg and he slid in for Weston’s third try. Once again James Aucott slotted the extras and Weston now led 21-3.

Liam Hynes, Jacob Cox, Aaron Norton and Charley Stott all went close before a hurried clearance kick deflected off a Weston player and Hornets reacted well to pick up the loose ball and cross for a consolation try as the game ended 21-10 to Weston.

Stefan Thompson-Rose and Alex Tyler played well, backed up by Owen Kelman, Harry Lewis and Liam Hynes. Good contributions were made by Aivaras Gaciauskas and DJ Wills, but DJ Wills was awarded the man of the match award.

All of the Weston squad and coaching staff would like to offer best wishes to Hornets’ coach Baz Collins, who was taken ill on Saturday afternoon.

The Under-8s got off to a fast start and both sides scored some great tries and at half-time the scores were level at 5-5, with scores from Jacob Simpson, William Crane, Ben Crook and George Nuttycombe (3).

After a minute’s silence, Old Bristolians came out in the second half and scored straight away to inch ahead. Despite three good tries from Nuttycombe, the game ended 12-8 to the visitors.

In the second game, Weston played with more fluency and kept Old Bristolians at bay for most of the first half. There were some great tries from Simpson, Nuttycombe and William Flavin (2), but again Old Bristolians had a couple of turnover balls at the end of the second half to edge the score 6-4.

In the second half, Weston benefited from some loose balls and closed the gap with some inventive play. There were excellent tries from William Crane, Simpson (2) and Flavin (3).

Unfortunately, the gap was just a bit too big to close and Old Bristolians took the game 11-10.

The Under-10s travelled to Cheddar and enjoyed a great game in fantastic conditions. Weston started well and scored twice through Alfie Calcutt and Dylan Way.

Cheddar hit back and by half-time it was three tries apiece with Calcutt adding another.

With some great defensive tackles from Way, Matthew and Jamie, Weston kept Cheddar at bay, while adding further tries from Paige and Alfie. Unfortunately, Cheddar finished the stronger and scored tries to win a good contest by seven tries to five.

Weston Under-9s pictured in their new kit after a hard fought game against Old Bristolians.

Weston Under-10s (left to right): Edward, Dillon, Tom, Alfie, Ryan, Mathew, Joel, Jamie, Charlie, Lottie, Paige and Ellie.

WINSCOMBE Under-14s recovered from the disappointment of being knocked out of the BJC Cup with a convincing 40-8 win over Taunton in the Somerset Cup.

The opening exchanges were dominated by Taunton, which resulted in a penalty. This seemed to spur Winscombe into action and with Sam White and George Harrison leading from the front and Connor Wall running everything from the back, the pressure began to tell.

Captain Tristan Greene broke through to score with Joe Hartshorne adding the extras. Patrick Merryfield and Connor Wall ran in two further tries before half-time, both converted by Hartshorne to give Winscombe a 21-3 lead.

After the break, Taunton crash over for an unconverted try. After some good inter-play between the forwards, White rounded the defence to slide in for another try, converted by Hartshorne.

With Taunton under pressure they tried to kick themselves out of trouble, but only found man of the match Wall. He returned the kick and fed the ball to Adam Elkins, who put Louis Yallop in space. He in turn fed Merryfield, who was stopped just short, but Yallop was on hand to touch down.

The final score of the match was more of an individual effort from Jack Painter. Hartshorne finished off an impressive all-round display with his fifth kick out of six.