Hornets play their part in 14-try thriller

HORNETS Under-12s played Taunton and it turned into a 14-try thriller.

Taunton played fast open running rugby and Hornets played their usual tight forward game. The visitors attacked from the kick off and only good defensive efforts from Tom Townsend and Ryan Heeney managed to keep the Taunton side out, but the Taunton backs broke through with well-worked tries.

The Hornets front row of Conner Campbell, Ashley Locker and Billy Phillips worked hard and Hornets started to get some decent ball that scum-half Sam Aplin could use. After a big team effort Oliver Coppage scored Hornets first try.

Taunton regrouped and upped the pace of the game with their backs keeping possession and scoring five tries without reply. Josh Hooper and William Brimble drove the pack forward and Edward Hill secured plenty of ball for William Hillman, now playing at scrum half.

The ball was passed out to Harry Hartley who found Leon Counsell to cut through the Taunton centres and score the try of the game in the corner. William Brimble then scored try of his own with a powerful drive towards the line taking several Taunton players over the line with him.

This motivated Hornets, who now started moving the ball at every opportunity. Ben Vanstone, on his debut, and Fenn Acreman made drive after drive into the Taunton defence.

The ball was released to outside centre Jacob Hill and winger William Kennett who linked well with James Aucott to produce three further tries for Hornets, one scored by Jacob and two by William.

Dan Murtagh made the tackle of the game in the last minute to prevent Taunton from adding further tries to their tally. An excellent and morning of rugby was enjoyed by both sides.

WESTON Under-10s played very well against Minehead on Sunday, coming out on top in both games.

In the first game, a well drilled Weston side caught Minehead napping, running in some fine tries, making great tackles and using the full width of the pitch to win 30-10 to the home side.

Eddie Davies was on fire with three tries, others were scored by Jack Howard, George Bamsey and Jessie Dadds.

Weston were never troubled by the visitors because of players like Dan Press, Adam Rogerson and Jimmy Bamsey making all the play. Sam Kerrigan had a busy game, Josh Gardner and Tom Chambers ran and tackled well and Herbie Corderoy had a good game on the wing.

In the second game, Minehead upped the pace but Weston still came out on top winning 15-5 with tries going to Jack Howard, George Bamsey and Sam Kerrigan.

Weston Under-12s played a home game this week against Minehead, their first in five weeks.

From the whistle, Weston pushed hard, playing some fantastic rugby. With Ashley Hardman powering through the field the team were enthusiastic, and with fast hands Tom Hale made a superb try. Good distribution coupled with slick passing gave Weston opportunities to score but their attempts were stopped by the solid Minehead defence.

Minehead came back just before half time with a try of their own.Adam Budd, Rhys Langley and Tom Sugg had a fantastic first half.

Weston came out for the second half in a confident mood. Good running by Harry Lewis and Harry Flower gave Weston chances, but again Minehead's defence held firm.

Alex Tyler was busy kicking Weston out of trouble on the few occasions Minehead threatened, Owen Kelman was kept busy in the scrums, Ben Bartlett had a few good runs, as did Harry Spedding, Dan Smith and Joal Scanlon.

Minehead scored their second of the day, but Weston got to the Minehead line and with nearly all the players in a maul, they pushed their way over the line allowing Jacob Cox to score to bring the scores level at 10-10 and the game ended in a well deserved draw.

Well done to new boy Mike Ward, who had a great first game for Weston. This week's Huw Langley solicitors man of the match was Jacob Cox.

Weston Under-14s took a strong Frome side and started off receiving the ball from the kick off.

The forwards of Casey Stanton, Curtis Hobbs, Bradley Harvey, Louis Jury Connar Dobson, Billy Fisher, Jamie Greatorex and Matt Reeves managed to put pressure on Frome and put a lot of hard tackles in.

The backs started to come into play with scrum-half PJ Grimes, fly-half Toby Norman and centres Ben James (captain) and Kye Carpenter keeping Frome under constant pressur.

Wingers Jordan Bolitho and Joe Cooper made some fantastic runs and making his debut was David Kerby at full-back.

The forwards set up Jordan to run in the first try with Grimes converting for the extras. Frome came back to score, but missed the conversion.

Weston responded with a try from Matt Reeves, but missed the conversion to make the score 12-10 at half time.

After the break, Weston managed to break though with Jamie Greatorex scoring to make score 17-10.

The Barcode and Youth Council man of the match went to the whole team

CHARLIE Thompson of Thompsons Sports Academy is presenting a three-day half term rugby camp at Hornets on February 17-19.

The course includes individual rugby development, learning the core skills of rugby, match practices, match analysis and prizes.

The cost is �12 a day (10am-2pm) and the age range is from four to 12-year-olds. Please bring a packed lunch and drink.

For bookings: e-mail charliet76@hotmail.com or phone 07795 955604.