Weston Colts 0 pts Hornets Colts 50 pts - HORNETS went through to the quarter-finals of the National Colts Cup with an eight-try demolition of Weston.

Weston Colts 0 pts

Hornets Colts 50 pts

HORNETS went through to the quarter-finals of the National Colts Cup with an eight-try demolition of Weston.

On a perfect day for rugby and watched by a large crowd, Weston were hoping to get revenge for their previous league loss. However, although the first few minutes were fairly evenly contested, it did not last long. Especially after the first couple of scrums in which it became clear that Hornets pack were going to dominate, particularly through their larger front row.

Weston were unlucky early on to lose their lively back row player following a crunching tackle and shortly after Hornets got their first try, Chris Francis put in a huge tackle in midfield which allowed Dexter Nettleton to pick up the ball and feed Harry Simmons with Jamie McGrory scoring under the posts, Reece Watson adding the extras.

After 22 minutes there was a clash of heads between McGrory and Lewis Hancock which left both players injured, but a minute later Tom Bradley made a run to score a try from almost half way. On 30 minutes Simmons executed a neat run around move to put Watson under the posts, which he converted to make it 19-0. Five minutes to half time, Hornets lost two men to the sin bin, and they had to play for a period of time with 13 men.

Hornets next score came shortly after half time. With the pack restored to eight men, they produced a series of drives which ended up with the ball being held up over the line and from the resultant five-metre scrum, the ball was fed to Simmons who went over for a score to make it 24-0.

One minute later Hornets scored the try of the game. Weston were penalised on half way for going over the top at a ruck. Francis took a quick penalty, making ground before passing to Rhys Matson who made further ground. The ball then went through the hands of Rich Hill and McGrory before getting to scorer Bradley.

Half way through the half, with Weston pressing in front of Hornets post, the ball was turned over which allowed Matt Cornish to kick down field. A good chase saw Weston fumble the ball which Matson seized on before jinking down the wing and popping the ball to John McCarthy who went over close to the posts. Cornish kicked the conversion to make it 36-0.

The next five minutes turned into a virtuoso display from Cornish who had now moved to fly half. First he split the Weston defence with a quick show of the ball before running 40 metres to score under the posts, then repeated the run one minute later. Watson converted both of these, the second one making it 50-0 which meant that the game had to be terminated early in accordance with RFU guidelines.

There were good performances from many Hornets players, Cornish catching the eye late on with superb open field running against the tiring Weston defence, Hawkins for work in the tight and Matson for his all-round work, but joint Windsor Castle Bar and Restaurant men of the match were Francis for a big game after a long time out and Simmons who in addition to marshalling his backs seemed at times was acting like an extra flanker.

Try scorers: Tom Bradley (2), Matt Cornish (2), Jamie McGrory, Reece Watson, Harry Simmons and John McCarthey. Conversions: Watson (4), Cornish (1).