Hornets maintain unbeaten home record

HORNETS Under-13s played Chew for the third time this season and now lead two games to one, after a classic game of two halves.

Hornets started with some fine touch finding and clearances by Humphris, using the wind to great effect. Forwards Mohide and Fitzpatrick made surging runs and followed by Cocking, Tanner and Entwistle made for good territory.

Quick ball along the line found Derham in space, who ran in for the first try. Solid defence by Parkman and Robinson allowed turnover ball and Coe scampered over for the second try.

Chew tried to hit back but were cut down. A penalty on halfway and Solomon found No 8 Holyday and he beat the winger and full back to score a superb try, converted by Humphris.

After a scrum on the halfway line, a pick up by the magnificent Solomon saw him sprint down the line to score the try of the game.

To their credit Chew scored three unconverted tries, but this was not enough as Hornets kept their unbeaten home record, running out 22-15 winners.

With the Under-16s reigning Somerset and Bristol champions and Longlevens the current holders of the Gloucestershire title, plus nearly 30 county players on show, this was always going to be a cracking encounter and it took a scintillating final 20 minutes from Hornets to come away with a victory.

Hornets soon established the upper hand at the scrums and the breakdown area, thus dominating possession. Hornets took the lead when Dan Saunders scored in the corner.

Hornets conceded their first try when a kick at goal came back off the post, Hornets first instinct was to attack, but a wayward pass was intercepted for the easiest of converted tries to give Longlevens a 7-5 lead at half-time.

After the break, the visitors extended their lead with another converted try. Hornets showed great spirit in making their way back downfield and Josh Caulfield finished off a great team try, converted by Adam Francis.

Back roared Longlevens and they extended their lead with a penalty kick to go 17-12 ahead. After Sam Lewis and Alex Perkins had both gone close, Connor Davidson powered through two defenders to score his first try of the season to level the scores.

Now in the ascendancy, another flowing move saw Sam Lewis round his opposite number to edge Hornets in front. From the kick-off, Alex Colborne set Conor Littlewood clear.

When he was hauled down 10 yards out, the ball was recycled quickly and Craig Nicholls crossed under the posts for a wonderful try that Davidson converted to make the final score 29-17 to Hornets.

Hornets’ whole squad should take credit for this exciting performance with Massey, Ward and Smith outstanding in the Hornets pack, while Alex Colborne was awarded the Scaffold Direct man of the match award. In the backline, Littlewood looked sharp and Francis, Wheeler and Wheller all had exceptional games.

The Under-10s hosted Cleve from Bristol and played their first game of the year on a muddy pitch. With new players to help bolster the squad, Hornets played two games with contrasting results.

The first game was extremely close and Tom Read scored tries for Hornets in each half that were both helped by runs at Cleve by new boy Keelan Hodges-Swales and driving mauls led by Harry McFarling and the ever present Lloyd Chudley.

There were also some try saving tackles by Tim Morris and Reef Morton. Despite Hornets efforts, Cleve twice broke away up the lines to score and narrowly won the first game 3-2.

The second game was very different. Both Adam Dawood and Tom Biggs played out of their skins in new positions of hooker and scrum-half. Further big tackles were made by Reeve Bailey and Harry Lynn to stop Cleve advancing. Hornets dominated both halves and with their solid defence, stopped Cleve getting any tries.

Hornets try scorers were Sam Hughes (2), Tom Read (2), Lawrence Pilgrim (2), Tim Morris and Keelan. Alex Leeks helped set up one try that involved most of the team from one end to the other which could be the try of the season. Hornets went on to win an amazing second game 8-0.

The Under-11s played host to Cleve and started well in the first quarter, scoring the first try of the game through Bradley Lucas.

A few changes were made for the second quarter, Hornets managed to keep their shape well in both attack and defence to contain everything Cleve were throwing at them until the last seconds when Cleve equalised.

In the third part of the game, Cleve started to get on top and scored three quick tries. Hornets regrouped and started to play more like the team for the final quarter. Cleve scored first, but Hornets hit back through a superb snipping run by Bradley to score his second.

Hornets continued to attack well, but the defending became a bit sporadic allowing the visitors to score the final try of the game to make it 30-10 to the visitors.

Well done to the whole squad: Amy Coles, Ayden Chenoweth, Bradley Lucas, Charlie Fairhurst, Eddie Williams, Ethan Loveridge, Jack Weaving, Lois Bird, Luke Collins, Mitchell Hawkes, Nathan Langdon, Oscar Browne, Owen Brake, Rhys Clarke, Thomas Howling and Tom Cattermole.

The Under-12s hosted Cleve in their first game of the New Year. In the first of three games, Hornets struggled to get into the game losing 36-0. But in the second game, Hornets turned it around with a 12-0 win, down to some great forwards play from Ed Mann, Andrew Meaghan, Aiden De-Bruin, Nicholas Lukins, Michael Brooks and George Sneddon-Coombes, which set up tries for Ieuan Walters and Tyler Haynes.

Backed up by solid defensive tackling from Tommy Bailey in his debut game, and good attacking runs by Jake Middleton and Dan Odea, Rhys Manning, Michael Henry, Liam Preston and Jordan Bird all put in strong performances.

The third and final game was an evenly matched game ending 7-7 with Ieuan scoring his second try of the day.

Man of the match went to Aiden De-Bruin. New players always welcome, please contact Coralie Lukins on 078250 77294.

The Under-7s were caught napping after Christmas by a determined Cleve who earned a well deserved 13-8 victory.

Game one started evenly and it looked to be a close contest when Cleve were 2-1 leaders at half-time, but this all changed in the second half when Cleve ran away 7-3 winners.

The second game saw a much improved Hornets performance with strong defence and some great runs and support play, but Cleve were still a little too strong and the game finished with Cleve 6-5 winners, even with a last minute try by Daniel.

Special mention for Hayden who scored his first-ever try and then moments later scored a second. He was duly awarded Harry the Hornet

Team: Adam, Hayden, Oliver, Harvey, Jacob, Max, Finley, Maison, Finley, Jenson, Daniel, Lucas, Harry, Regan.

The Under-8s took on Cleve and they lost the first game 6-2.

The second match was an improvement, but were beaten 6-2 again. There was some good tagging from the whole team and Roman made a great run before setting up Charley for a try.

YATTON and Cheddar Under-15s played host to Hornets and went on to win 26-19.

The hosts took the lead with a penalty by Jack Edwards, but Hornets soon hit back with a converted try. Yatton scored next with a try for Ross Henderson in the corner.

Yatton extended their lead when Christian Newman stole a line-out and offloaded to James Edwards to touch down for a 13-7 half-time lead.

After the break, the impressive Hornets’ backs set up a try to get within a point. Shortly after the restart, Hornets were had a man down sent to the sin bin.Yatton took advantage when James Edwards crashed over, but Hornets replied with a try of their own, the conversion giving the visitors a one point lead.

With Hornets back to full strength, Yatton’s Matt Scully was held up over the line, but from the resulting scrum, James Edwards went over for his hat-trick. The final points of the game was a penalty kicked by Jack Edwards.

The Under-8s looked to brush away the cobwebs with a couple of fast-flowing games away at Frampton Cottrell.

Ben Clarke made a welcome return to the team and got the scoring under way with a length of the field run. Frampton replied with a couple of quick scores of their own and the half-time score was 4-2 to Frampton.

The second half belonged to Yatton, but despite their best efforts the game ended 5-4 to Frampton.

The second game was even faster than the first and several players went over in their haste to make the breaks. Frampton opened the scoring and were 5-3 up at the break.

The second half was honours even and the final score was Frampton 8, Yatton 6.

Yatton try scorers were: Ben Clarke (3), Connor Kane (2), Matthew Bailey, Cameron Bains, Caleb Clarke, Cameron Fogg and Adam Foley.