Weston Under-13s enjoyed a successful tour to Croyde in Devon.

WESTON Under-13s travelled to another seaside resort last week as they spent the weekend at Croyde in Devon on their annual tour.

As well as some tag rugby on the beach and the usual rugby focused entertainment, the highlight of the weekend was a friendly fixture against Barnstaple.

After being given tickets to watch the first team game, the boys were allowed to play on the main pitch and both teams rose to the occasion with excellent play from both sides as they held each other at bay until Dom Marshall broke the deadlock.

Against a big Barnstaple pack, Brook Chamberlain and Euan Braidwood worked hard to win the ball and with good support from Marshall Hobbs and Ryan Jones, they ensured Weston had most of the possession.

Barnstaple pulled back a converted try to take the lead before surging runs from Lewis Paterson and Kyron Pearce earned them a try each to give Weston a 17-7 lead at half-time.

Barnstaple fought back after the break with two tries in quick succession to level the scores, before a strong run through the middle from Pearce ended in a try under the posts

Barnstaple responded instantly with a try of their own, inspiring Weston to go looking for the winner. There were constant attacks from Harry Strutt, Reef Morton and Andy Turner as the forwards piled on the pressure before Jack Press released the ball to Paterson, whose mazy run ended under the posts to give Weston a 31-24 victory.

The Under-13s hosted local rivals Hornets in the return fixture for bragging rights across Weston.

Played as two separate games, the first one started as a repeat of their earlier encounter with Weston dominating from the kick-off. Within seconds Lewis Paterson scored the first try.

With the forwards keeping possession, Dan Meaden and Joe Connolly ensured that only the Weston scrum-half Tom Biggs was seeing the ball. When they drove forward Hornets found them unstoppable as the impressive Harry Strutt added a second.

Weston started to get into full flow with Biggs feeding an endless supply of balls to the fast running backs. Kyron Pearce scored his first of the day before newcomer Toby Maleham did the same on his debut.

Biggs scored a well-earned try of his own breaking off the pack to jink in under the posts before Brook Chamberlain carried the ball over for another. Pearce rounded off a good display as he sprinted through the middle for his second to complete a 48-0 win for Weston with Tom Biggs as man of the match.

The second game was played as a development fixture and saw the Hornets squad mixed to include a couple of Weston’s Under-13s and 14s.

In this game, Harry Strutt scored first and Paterson scored a second before swapping over to the Hornets and scoring two excellent tries against his own club, before Pearce scored. The final score was 19-10 to Weston in a useful development game for both teams.

WINSCOMBE Under-16s travelled to Clevedon for the final match of the season. The visitors started well when they were awarded a penalty and centre Joe Duran broke through the Clevedon defence to open the scoring. Clevedon kept up the pressure on the Winscombe defence and eventually the visitors were penalised and Clevedon took the points.

Winscombe started the second half brightly, but the hosts turned them over and a good clearance kick saw Combe’s full-back Pat Merryfield isolated and he was soon giving away a penalty.

Clevedon grasped their opportunity and scored a try. A handling error provided Clevedon with their second try of the day soon after.

Winscombe were soon to retaliate with another try for Duran following a successful line-out. The game seemed to slip away from Winscombe as Clevedon were again on the score sheet.

Clevedon added more points from the try scored when a scrum was awarded to them following Combe kicking the ball out on the full as the home side finished 27-12 winners.