HORNETS Colts progressed to the quarter-finals of the Somerset Colts Cup courtesy of this 32-7 win at Hutton Moor.

Hornets Colts 32 pts

Taunton Colts 7 pts

HORNETS Colts progressed to the quarter-finals of the Somerset Colts Cup courtesy of this win at Hutton Moor.

With Taunton playing in the Saturday Somerset Colts League and Hornets playing in the Sunday Bristol Combination Colts League, the sides had been playing different teams this season so had no common yardstick by which to compare themselves against each other. Taunton turned up with an unbeaten record in the Somerset League sitting at the top of the pile with a 100 per cent league record, while Hornets entered with a 100 per cent record in all matches this season.

The early minutes were all Hornets and they scored their first try after five minutes. Taunton tried to relieve some pressure through a kick, but this was fielded by Jamie McGrory who ran the ball back, linking with support runner Tom Bradley who passed to Jermaine Jones who forced himself over in the corner.

Five minutes later Hornets doubled their score through Ali O'Connor. Strong driving play allowed the ball to be recycled to the backs, who quickly moved the ball wide for O'Connor to score in the corner.

The third try came after 15 minutes when in front of the Taunton posts the dominant Hornets scrum took a ball against the head, Ollie Sheppard picked up and drove to within a metre of the line where Dexter quickly recycled the ball and was driven over under the posts. Jones converted to make it 17-0.

The next score of the half came after 29 minutes with McGrory and Matt Cornish splitting the defence with dummy runs, Harry Simmons was able to feed Bradley who hit the gap at full pace, running the 35 metres to the line.

Hornets' next score did not come until 10 minutes from time, when Lawrence Rowland went over after a series of drives from both forwards and backs. Taunton scored a converted try five minutes from time when a kick was gathered by a Taunton player who ran in from 35 metres.

Hornets had the final say when two minutes from time, Sean Disney broke down the blind side before getting a good offload. Quick hands from Richard Hill allowed Bradley to make ground down the right before giving a well timed inside pass for Jonny Mitchell to score.

Man of the match was Alex Hawkins who was a thorn in the side of Taunton both in the scrum and in the loose, pick of the backs was Bradley.