Local clubs provide five sides to contest county finals

WESTON can rightly claim to be the County's rugby hotbed with Weston and Hornets having five sides aiming to be county champions.The Rec at Bath plays host to Weston v Bath at Under-14s on Saturday, kick-off at 1.30, and this will be followed by Hornets v Taunton at Under-16s, kick-off at 3pm.Sunday sees more action at the Rec in Bath with Hornets Under-17s playing Bridgwater at 1.30. This is followed by Weston Colts aiming to win the cup for a sixth straight season, their opponents are Avonvale, kick off 3.30.Entry to the Rec at Bath RFC for the junior finals is free.Both clubs can be proud of the achievements of their junior sections and in nurturing local talentHORNETS Under-9s went on the season's "Wild West" tour to Looe and played three teams. First game on Saturday was against Liskeard. Captained by Thomas Budd, Hornets dominated with some great play in strong winds and driving rain. Charlie Owens was unstoppable for two excellent scores, Archie Tilsley beat a handful of players for a third and Lauren Cunningham scored a great try for the fourth. Hornets continued to apply pressure across all areas of the narrow pitch, leading to Ed Mann and Andrew Meaghan finishing off some classy driving mauls. The tourists ran out 30-0 winners.The second game against Lankelly Fowey was much tougher. Hornets spent much of the game defending against some quick wing play. Despite conceding three early tries, the team worked hard for each other. Owen Kent and Jacob Manning made some excellent breaks and Nick Lukins took on the opposition at every opportunity. The hosts crossed three more times but Hornets grabbed a consolation try when a great run by Jack Higgins saw Harrison Wallace pick up the loose ball and beat two players to score in the corner. Final score was 30-5 to Fowey.On the Sunday, the team travelled to Tavistock and captained by Nick, they played two hard fought matches on a sloping pitch. A slow start saw two early tries conceded but Hornets produced a superb second-half comeback with some outstanding forward play from Thomas, Ed, Charlie and Andrew. Archie scored three times, Ed and Charlie also crossed and Jack beat three players to finish off a brilliant team move. Final score was a well-deserved 30-20 win. Tavistock brought on a fresh set of players for the final match but a tiring Hornets team did not give up. Jacob and Lauren put in some hard brilliant tackles, Harrison worked hard to secure the ball at each ruck and Owen broke through the opponents' defence numerous times to gain vital territory. Archie scored his fourth of the day for Hornets only try and the game ended as a 25-5 loss. WESTON Under-6s demonstrated their strong potential for next season against Yatton. In a sturdy performance, Weston had a strong defence with excellent tagging by Taylor Kingston, Lewis Underhill, Ciaran Kelman and Edward Land. From the strong defensive platform Weston where able to launch effective attacks leading to tries for Haydon Main (3), Jake Gillett, Taylor Kingston, Alfie Calcutt and Jake Maine. Final score was 7-2 to Weston.The Under-7s had a convincing victory against Clevedon. In attack, Weston's support play and passing was excellent leading to tries by Oliver Kossmann, Lewis Paterson, Keelan Hodges, Jack Press (2) and Haydon Main (2). In defence Weston was also strong with excellent tagging by Emily Evens, Joe Connolly and Liam Horsnell. Final Score 7-2 to Weston.The Under-11s hosted three games this week, two with Reading A and B teams and one with Clevedon. Weston's first game was against Reading A, and their lack of tackling allowed the visitors to score two tries in the first half. Weston came out in the second half and played a much better game. Good running and passing helped the pack make good headway but found it hard against the well-drilled Reading team. Good effort by Rhys Langley and Ethan Hetherington, and Alfie Hardy got Weston on the score sheet. The final score was 34-7.Weston's second game against Reading B was a far superior game. They dominated in rucks, mauls and scrums and great tackles from Ben Bartlett, Alex Tyler, Joel Scanlon and Jacob Cox held the visitors back for much of the game. With Weston piling on pressure tries came easily from Sam Light and Alfie Hardy for a well deserved win of 10-5.Weston's final game was an entertaining match with Clevedon. They dominated from the start and gave the visitors a run for their money. Although Weston made a few breaks it was still all square at half time. Weston came out for the second half with determination and the enthusiasm to win. Great runs by Sam Andrews, Owen Kellman and Tom Sugg and superb support from Harry Spedding, Tom Hale, Jack Nall and Adam Budd. With the last few seconds of the game and with still no score, Clevedon made a last desperate effort to get one over the Weston try line to give them a 5-0 win.Well done to new player Elliot who showed great promise. This week's Huw Langley Solicitors man of the match was Alex Tyler.The Under-8s played host to Clevedon for two games. In the first game Clevedon took the lead and Dan replied quickly for Weston. Despite some good tagging by Weston, Clevedon went ahead again.Good running and support play led to Weston taking the lead with tries by Reece W and Ewan. Clevedon came back with two tries and ended the first half ahead.Dan opened the scoring for Weston in the second half and despite strong tagging by Weston, Clevedon scored twice more to win 6-4.The first half of the second game was dominated by strong defences of both teams. Weston turned the ball over on three occasions by reaching seven tags. Reece W scored Weston's only try of the half and also took 13 tags. Joe scored for Weston from the restart, but Clevedon scored twice before Joe added his second to add to his nine tags.When Weston turned over the ball, Leon made a great run down the line to score the fourth. Clevedon scored again before Dan won the game for Weston with a try to add to his 12 tags. Final score was 5-4. The Under-17s' final home game was to tourists Cinderford under lights on Friday night. Weston began brightly and were keen to run the ball at every opportunity and an entertaining game was on the cards. The first 20 minutes was a close game with Weston scoring tries through Lewis Hancock and Aaron Kelman, Dan Prime converting both. Cinderford were still in the game scoring two tries and converting one. Weston then began to take control with Lewis and Aaron scoring two more tries, both of which Dan converted, giving him a 100 per cent record. At half time Weston held a 28-12 lead. The second half saw Weston make a number of changes and they took firm control, running in tries from Robbie Hazzard, Aaron Kelman, Ollie Gilpin, Rich Frost, George Kimmins and Jake Whately, with George adding a number of conversions. This was a fine game to end the season at home with Weston recording a 75-17 victory. YATTON Under-8s entered the Cheddar annual mini's tournament and their first game was against Wellington who scored a couple of early tries. Despite tries from Archie Anderson (2), Ben Wiggins (2), Dylan Wallis (2) and James Watson, Yatton went down 9 tries to 7.Yatton's second game was against Stockwood, who also scored first. There were tries by Finbar Lawrence, Robbie Crew and Billy Mackay in the first half, but Yatton trailed 5-3 at half time. At the start of the second half Yatton found their form and two quick tries by Gus Bingham put them back level. Mackay and Crew traded tries with Stockwood to keep things level before a few silly handling errors gifted Stockwood some easy tries and the lead. Mackay scored his hat-trick on the final whistle, but it was not enough and Yatton went down 10-8.Next up Yatton took on Keynsham, whose physical game had intimidated other teams and made them hard to beat. From the off Yatton played a good attacking game and were the first to score, Murray going over and further tries by Anderson and Mackay meant Yatton turned around at 3-all at half time. In the second half Keynsham scored first but Murray soon equalised with another great run. Keynsham took the lead once more, but Mackay took the ball well at speed to go over in the corner and draw things level again. Keynsham got one more try and ran out 6-5 winners.In the final game with only pride now at stake Yatton took on Cinderford. It was a high scoring game with some great play from both sides. In the first half tries from Robbie Crew (2), Woody O'Regan and Murray matched Cinderford 5 apiece. Yatton gained the initiative at the start of the second half, scoring two tries without reply by Crew and Anderson, but small errors let Cinderford back into the game to draw level again. Further tries by David Hazon, Anderson and Crew were matched by the opposition and the final score was 10-all. Despite mixed results the boys have had a great season and enjoyed themselves immensely which is what it is all about really. Thanks to coaches Chris Hodgekinson, Andy Bingham and Simon Caygill.