Weston were defeated at home by league leaders Chinnor.

WESTON 15 pts

CHINNOR 40 pts

WESTON fell to another home defeat as Chinnor, equal top of National 3 South West, ran in five tries at the Recreation Ground.

Nevertheless, the Seasiders put in a spirited performance, even though they were without their talisman, skipper George Sparks, who was injured in a road traffic accident on his way back from the match at Bridgwater two weeks ago.

They were also unfortunate to lose second rower Stuart Board who was taken to hospital with a broken leg.

Visiting fly-half James Cathcart sent his team on their way with a brace of penalties before James Mackay replied in kind, but Weston then conceded two quick tries.

They were unable to clear the restart from which right wing Pip Seymour scored; then they were in front of the second restart and left wing Tom Gray touched down from the resultant scrum on the halfway line.

A conversion by Cathcart and his third penalty took the score to 3-21, but Weston replied in the 40th minute when flanker Jamie Rudkin was on the end of a driven line-out.

The hosts started the second half well when Matt Watkins was held up on the line and they pressed for six minutes without being able to break down Chinnor’s defence, but the visitors eventually broke out and full-back Mark Chase was the extra man for their third try.

Chase was in again 15 minutes later for Cathcart to convert and as the match drew to a close, No 8 Liam Gilbert’s interception try and Henry Colver’s conversion took their score to 40.

But Weston played to the end and after a succession of penalties, referee Chris Bartlett awarded a penalty try which Mackay converted.

Weston: C Young, P Sprague, G Wright, G Kimmins, M Watkins, J Mackay, R Bennett, D Swann, G Cooper (C Withers 64), S Donegan, S Board (M Truscott 38), A Glen (c), S Eaton, J Rudkin (J Reid 74, sinbin 77), G Simpson.

Weston now occupy a very tight mid-table sixth place in National 3 South West. There is a difference of only four points between them and Chippenham who are in 10th position.

In between are Old Patesians and Old Redcliffians who both host the Seasiders during the next two weeks starting on Saturday.

Their performance against Chinnor was mixed, albeit against a superior team.

Sadly, Stuart Board’s departure affected the line-out and, once again, too many tackles were missed.

But their were some good individual efforts, notably from scrum-half Ross Bennett and No 8 Gavin Simpson, together with Chris Young, who is gradually fitting into the full-back role.