Weston were awarded a late penalty try which gave them victory over Chippenham.

WESTON 17 pts

CHIPPENHAM 15 pts

CHIPPENHAM looked to be heading for victory as time added started at the end of this match at the Recreation Ground. They were 15-10 ahead and the Seasiders were about to go down to a damaging defeat.

But, aided by a couple of Mal Roberts’ penalties down the line, the Weston scrummage got to work again and in the 50th minute of the second half, referee Doug Neagle awarded a penalty try to the hosts after Chippenham had offended at three successive five metre scrums. Young centre George Kimmins converted and Weston had stolen the points.

Weston’s pack was outstanding, particularly the front row of David Swann, David Burge and Steve Donegan who had already given notice of what was to come later when a pushover was touched down by scrum-half Chris Young in the 21st minute.

Chippenham had led with Leroy Surry’s fourth minute penalty but the Seasiders pressed home their advantage with their second try.

Wing Matthew Watkins was given space on the left flank and he had already left his opposite number standing before delivering an inside pass to skipper George Sparks who ran unopposed to the line.

Both conversions had failed and this was to prove costly when a wayward pass donated an attacking position to the visitors who scored a try by No 8 James Doubleday, Surry’s conversion bringing the scores level at the break.

Weston started the second half brightly with a move down the right touchline involving Jamie Rudkin and Andrew Evans, with Paul Sprague held up near the line, but it was the visitors who retook the lead.

Pressure near the home line resulted in wing Ryan Surry scoring at the right corner and although the conversion failed, the visitors looked well in command.

A yellow card awarded against Evans did not help but, as always, Weston kept playing until the end and they were handsomely rewarded.

The key factors in this important victory were the consistently long line kicking by Roberts and the well-drilled performance of the front eight.

David Swann gave Chippenham’s tighthead prop Chris Murrow a torrid time throughout and Murrow’s eventual replacement suffered the same fate as the visiting scrum was destroyed.

However, some of the handling in the back division was disappointing and this will need some attention before Saturday’s visit to Redingensians, who occupy third place in National 3 South West.

Weston: C Hurd (O Trott 55), P Sprague, A Evans, G Kimmins, M Watkins, M Roberts, C Young, D Swann (D Price 87), D Burge, S Donegan, H Somers, A Russell (S Eaton 91), J Rudkin, R Bignell, G Sparks (c).