Weston Under-10s defeat North Petherton in their first-away fixture of the season.

WESTON Under-10s hit the road running with a 7-1 victory at North Petherton.

The first game started well when Keelan Hodges-Swales broke through the Petherton line from a set piece to score and minutes later he made it 2-0. Lewis Patterson started his man of the match performance by scoring the first of his three tries.

The second half saw more of the same from Patterson and he was quickly notched up treble. Hayden Main managed to rip a ball from a defender to touch down for a try.

Strong tackling from Billy Howells and Marshall Hobbs saw Pethy bundled into touch and this led to Joe Connolly winning his fourth consecutive line-out, hand the ball to Jack Press who distributed through backs Rhys Harford and Taylor Kingston for Hodges-Swales to score his second.

In a second game, Weston relied upon strong defensive cover from Liam Horsnell. Tries came from Billy Howells, Hayden Main and two from Lewis Paterson in a 4-2 win.

Although the Under-11s started well, lack of aggression and basic mistakes saw them concede easy tries and lose 26-0.

However, Weston improved considerably in the second game, but North Petherton took the lead until Will Durston, Joe Harper, Mateo Turvey and Jack Schafer worked together enabling Harper to equalise.

Great hands in the line-out by James Feltwell and Josh Edwards and battling by Max Seymour-Shove and Rhys Matthews were wasted as Petherton score three more. A fantastic restart by Ogborne was pounced upon by Durston only to be disallowed.

This move proved successful again when Harper scored his second as Weston lost 14-28.

The Under-9s took another large squad to North Petherton to play two games. Unfortunately, they came up against a team who were well organised and extremely quick who won both games quite comfortably.

In the first game, there was some terrific off-loading in the tackle and Weston’s only try came from Charlie Harding. Dylan Way tackled well, backed up by Joel Briffitt, while newcomers Stanley Pincott and Jamie Meadon continue to improve.

In the second game, Weston started well with a great try from Alfie Calcutt. Lottie Dadds scored a fine try after a lovely break from Bradley Robinson.

After half-time, Weston were on the back foot and only resolute defending from Alfie, Tom Burge and Jackson Webb stopped Petherton scoring more.

The Under-12s made the short trip to North Petherton for their third fixture of the season.

Weston were soon into their stride with Jack Howard crossing for his first of five of the day and soon after Eddie Davies also crossed. The excellent half-backs of Jacob Manning and Archie Tilsley began to stretch the home side even further.

The second half scoring belonged to George Bamsey and Jack Howard, who each scored two apiece. Tilsley added five conversions for a final score of 40-0 to Weston.

In the second match, Weston were soon on top. New recruits Tom Hughes and Jordan Clark had excellent games, backed up by Josh Bloxham, Liam Neale and Davies. Jimmy Bamsey went close a couple of times and Josh Gardner and Mitchell Bird attacked with determination. Weston got on the scoreboard with two tries each for George Bamsey and Howard, Tilsley adding the extras for a final score of 28-0.

HORNETS Under-11s faced county champions Keynsham at home.

The pack of Mitch, Nathan, Jack, Tom and Owen were up against a formidable Keynsham pack and had difficulty in securing their own ball. Although Keynsham had more of the ball, the defensive back line of Bradley, Charlie, Ayden, Lois, Ethan, Amy and Eddie, kept the first quarter with no spoils to either team.

The second quarter saw changes to the entire Hornets pack with Oscar, Joe, Seb, Luke and Rhys coming on. The back line also saw changes with Lockie, Connor and Tom introduced.

Hornets were unfortunate to concede an interception try, followed by another from Keynsham. Hornets were unlucky when Oscar Brown’s try was disallowed.

The third quarter again saw entire changes to the pack and minor movement in the backs. This quarter was a more even affair as Keynsham crossed for a solitary try.

The final quarter again saw changes to the Hornets team. This quarter was to be Hornets best of the day as Luke Collins crossed for their only try. However, a lack of concentration saw Keynsham cross to even the scores.

The Under-10s hosted Keynsham in two bruising encounters with players on both sides playing with passion.

In the first game, Keynsham opened the scoring, but Hornets replied with some big tackles, notably by Tim Morris, Reeve Bailey and Adam Dawood. A thumping Tom Read tackle helped to steal the ball from Keynsham and Alex Leeks touched down in the corner.

A slack piece of Hornets defending let Keynsham score at the other end to lead 2-1 and the game would have been drawn had a superb Lawrence Pilgrim interception not been knocked on just short of the line.

In the second game, there were plenty of try saving tackles from Bailey, Morris and Pilgrim and Reef Morton made tackle of the season by driving a Keynsham player back five yards. Keynsham scored first but straight from the re-start, Morris touched down.

The second half saw Bailey score a superb try and Leeks managed to rip the ball from Keynsham hands to increase the lead. A late Keynsham try could not prevent Hornets winning 3-2. This was all helped by man of the match Ben Graves.

The Under-13s travelled to Yatton for a Bristol Combination Plate quarter-final fixture and returned with a 34-0 victory.

A scrum in the middle of the park and a hook against the head by Cocking enabled Solomon to scoop the ball up and make a clean break to score. Two minutes later, another scrum by Hornets meant the backs could spin the ball along the line to winger Derham, who scored.

Yatton began to find their feet, but were beaten back by solid defence, especially in the centres where Blake Williams and Coe were dominant.

After the break, Cocking made inroads into the heart of the defence and quick ruck ball enabled Holyday to find space down the wing to go in for his first try, converted by Humphris.

Enjoying good possession and territory, Hornets began to play with flair and expansion. Good runs by Dover, Mohide and Robinson caused troubles for Yatton, who were forced to concede a penalty.

A well-executed penalty by Hornets enabled Holyday to crash over for a score. Yatton were thwarted by strong tackling and counter attacks. From a scrum in Hornets’ 22, Humphris kicked into space for Derham to pick up and score under the posts, converted by Humphris.

More pressure by Hornets resulted in turnover ball and quick hands down the line saw skipper Williams score the final try.

Special mention to Coe, Blake Williams, Thomas and Dave.

The Under-8s played two games against Keynsham and lost both of them.

Their squad of Robson, Roman, Charlie, Andon, Bethany, James, Daniel, Alexander, Daniel C, Daniel, Russ, Sam, Alfie, Lewis, Louis, Tomas and Cara all played well.

The squad are starting to work as a team and there was a great try in the corner from Louis. Other tries were scored by Charlie and James.