Hornets were knocked out of the National Cup by Berry Hill in a closely-contested match.

Berry Hill 32 pts

Hornets 26 pts

ALEC Chase scored his second hat-trick of the season, both incidentally against Berry Hill, but Hornets could not match the boot of Berry Hill’s No 10 in this National Cup encounter.

Berry Hill took the lead with a drop goal after five minutes and soon after the No 10 added two more penalties to give the home side a 9-0 advantage.

Hornets got back into the match in the 25th minute. A solid scrum from the forwards allowed the backs to execute a move straight of the training pitch. Jones came off his wing to hit the line at pace and touched down close to the posts. He added the conversion and Hornets were back in the game at 9-7.

From the restart Hornets lost second row Jake Fereday with a dislocated shoulder. Hornets gifted the Berry No 10 with another penalty on the half hour which he duly dispatched.

Hornets now lost veteran second row Hogarth with a gash to the head from a stray boot, his blood replacement Josh Hallett-Fairhurst filled in until half-time for the sides to turn round with Berry 12-7 in the lead.

Now with the slope and wind, Hornets started to make inroads. Berry’s discipline would now be found wanting as their No 4 found himself in the bin with only five minutes of the half gone.

Hornets opted to kick for the corner. A line-out was won by Hogarth, followed by a seven-man drive and Chase touched down his first of the day, with Jones converting.

From the restart, Berry’s No 12 made a late tackle which laid Cornish low and joined his team-mate in the sin bin.

Hornets again kicked into the corner, but this time went for the run round move. Captain Kent was stopped short, but he offloaded superbly for Chase to crash over. Jones added the extras for Hornets to go 12-21 up.

Hornets’ discipline in the middle let them down and another penalty was converted. The game entered the last quarter as time and tempers were running short Hornets’ No 8 Speller was the next to go into the referee’s book for some over vigorous rucking.

Berry now had the advantage and created a good try from open play, the replacement kicker added the conversion to put them 22-21 ahead. As Hornets tried to get back into the game, Berry scored from a line-out to increase their lead.

Nettleton replaced Speller as the sin bin time was up. Hornets now threw everything at the hosts, but a speculative pass was intercepted and Berry scored another try to lead 32-21.

From the restart, Hornets turned the ball over and Chase found himself on the end of a pass some 22 yards out and he managed to dummy and dance his way to the line for his third and Hornets fourth of the day.

On Saturday, Hornets are back in league action with another tough away game at Matson. They still sit top of Western Counties North on points difference, but have a game in hand.

Hornets 2nd XV 139 pts

Midsomer Norton 0 pts

THE seconds completely overwhelmed Midsomer Norton, running in 21 tries in the process.

In the first half, there were tries for Owens, Hewlett, Ashfield (2), Vaughn (2), Mounsdon (2) and Edwards (3). Ashfield converted eight times for a half-time lead of 71-0.

After the break, there were further tries for Collings, Owens, Sheridan, Partridge (2) and Hewlett (5). Ashfield converted nine of the 10 tries scored.