Hornets received a wake-up call in their final pre-season friendly.

North Petherton 26 pts

Hornets 15 pts

IN their final pre-season match before embarking on a new campaign in Western Counties North, Hornets received a wake-up call.

Having made the short trip to North Petherton, a side that finished seventh in Western Counties West last season, Hornets found themselves up against much sterner opposition.

The visitors found themselves under the cosh from the outset. This was made clear within two minutes when the hosts score the first try, which was duly converted. Five minutes later the lead was doubled when the Petherton winger scored under the posts.

Hornets hit back, but a promising attack was intercepted and Petherton scored their third converted try before the break.

The second half started much more positively with North Petherton being turned over at the restart and Hornets unleashing their speedy backs. Seven minutes into the half Hornets were on the score sheet thanks to a Tom Bradley drop goal.

The breakthrough came midway through the half, following further changes to the side, when Bradley burst through the middle, fed the ball to Cornish and he ran round the remaining defenders to score under the posts. Lloyd-Jones was successful with the extras.

Cornish again proved to be the master finisher a few moments later when he picked up spilt ball from Petherton and raced through to score out wide for his second. In the closing minutes, the home side crossed again in the corner for an unconverted try to take the final score to 26-15.

Despite this, Hornets can take some pride in the way they fought back. They now need to take this late form into the league.