Winscombe Under-18 Girls made an impressive start to the season with victory over Cleve.

Winscombe U18 Girls 27 pts

Cleve U18s Girls 15 pts

FOLLOWING on from their impressive away win at Wattstown in a pre-season friendly, Winscombe Girls entertained Cleve.

Cleve are one of the strongest teams in the South West at this age group and dominated the early exchanges. Outstanding defence kept the visitors at bay and against the run of play, Ellie Darby scored the first try of the game.

Charlotte Wright-Haley was next to score after picking up a loose ball on the halfway line and weaving her way through the Cleve defence. The restart was caught by Lucy Burgess who returned the ball to the Cleve tryline, scoring Winscombe’s third.

Cleve, for all their forward dominance, seemed stunned when Wright-Haley went over for her second try, with Burgess converting for a second time to finish the half.

The interval gave Cleve a chance to re-group and they came out fighting in the second half, scoring three tries in quick succession.

Winscombe finished strongly, however, and set up camp inside the Cleve 22 for the final quarter. Player of the match Jess Dadds was unlucky not to break through the stubborn defence.

Burgess kicked a late penalty to settle the home team’s nerves, with Winscombe holding on for an impressive early season victory.