Weston dominate two games

WESTON Under-10s dominated both games against North Petherton with a fine display of rugby, tackling well and taking the play to the opposition, who had no answer.

As with last week, Eddie Davies caught the opposition napping and ran in a fine early try, backed up by Jack Howard and the Bamsey duo of George and Jimmy, who were by far the strongest players on the pitch.

Sam Kerrigan moved the ball well, allowing Jonny Hale, Adam Rogerson and Archie Tilsley to make some lightning runs at the opposition try line. Tom Chambers and Jessie Dadds played well on the wings, making some fine runs and some important tackles.

Josh Gardner ran in two great tries backed up by the busy Dan Press and Finley James.

Weston won the first game by 50-5 with tries going to George Bamsey (4), Jack Howard (3), Josh Gardner (2) and Eddie Davies.

It was much the same in the second game with Weston winning 45-5 with tries going to Eddie Davies (2), George Bamsey (2), Tom Chambers, Jonny Hale, Jessie Dadds, Jack Howard and Sam Kerrigan. Mitchell Bird played only his second game for the club and showed promise.

HORNETS Under-9s travelled to Nailsea and Backwell and fielded two teams.

In the first game, it was evident that there was little between the teams. A well-executed switch by fly-half Luke Collins allowed Ayden Chenoweth to outwit Nailsea and drive across the line to score the first try for Hornets.

Despite some crunching tackles, notably from Lois Bird, Nailsea battled back and evened things up off a well-timed run just before the half-time whistle.

Play during the second-half was consistent, even up to the point of Ayden scoring his second try. Once again, Nailsea responded and levelled the scores. Hornets finally opened up the play and moved the ball around nicely.

The final try of the match came from Luke Collins with a powerful run through the opponents to cross the line and secure a win for Hornets.

Team: Ayden Chenoweth, Eddie Williams, George Sheppard, Jack Tottle, Joe Frost, Kyle Godwin, Locky Carver-Cox, Louis Bird, Luke Collins and Rhys Clarke.

The second game brought a renewed vigour and exemplary teamwork. Scrum-half Bradley Lucas made things look easy as he opened the scoring with a brace of tries. Solid rucking from Nathan Landon, Mitch Hawkes and Ryan Young helped Hornets maintain possession and Oscar Browne showed his strength when he ploughed across the line.

Hornets maintained the pressure during the second half, fly-half Charlie Fairhurst scored a brace, his second coming from a superb dummy. Lucas scored the sixth try (his hat-trick) following a quick break.

Ewan McComisky topped off a great display with a good run to complete the scoring.

Team: Blake Goodare, Bradley Lucas, Charlie Fairhurst, Connor Hill, Ewan McComisky, Jack Weaving, Mitchell Hawkes, Nathan Langdon, Oscar Browne, Ryan Young and Sebastian Wood.

The Under-11s went to Nailsea and played two hard-fought, entertaining matches and shared the spoils with both sides winning a game each.

The first game started with both packs trying to get the upper hand. The front row of Louie Vernacombe, Callum Tanner and Zac Carver-Cox were a constant thorn in the side of the bigger opposition, while Paddy Holyday and Jack Richardson were making constant breaks.

Alex Francis constantly organised his backs of Tiah Lauder, Blake Williams, Spencer Coe, Thomas Cocking and Jordan Humphris, who maintained pressure with good penalty kicks to gain territory.

Bryn Solomon spotted a gap and scorched over for a try which Jordan converted. Then Solomon charged down and gathered to score a great try.

After the break, Carver-Cox received a pass and bulldozed his way over, converted by Jordan to make the final score 21-7.

In the second game, Esme Bird, Josh Entwhistle were in the front row, Liam Fitzpatrick, Jack Mohide in the second row, while Keane Williams went to scrum-half and Mitchell Dyson and Jacob Parkman went on the wings.

Good line-out catch and drives by Jack Mohide and Fitzpatrick kept Hornets going forward. Tiah tackled strongly and stole ball off the opposition, while Mitch, Jacob, Spencer and Freddie Dolcezza all made try-saving tackles.

Mistakes allowed Nailsea in for three unanswered tries but after half time Hornets got more organised and a break in midfield by Jack Richardson opened up a gap and Paddy was close in support when Jack got held up to score a fine try, converted by Thomas. Final score 7-21.

Hornets Under-8s travelled to Nailsea and Backwell. In the first game, Nailsea were rewarded with an early try.

Hornets fought back with Tim Morris scoring a try in the corner and came close to scoring a second, but Aidan McComisky was tripped just short of the try line.

His disappointment was short lived as he scored a try from the restart, but Nailsea fought back and levelled the score just before half time.

The second half started with a Nailsea try, but Hornets responded immediately with Tom Reed taking the ball from his own half before passing to Aidan McComisky to score his second.

From the restart, Hornets got possession and once again excellent passing by Tom Reed gave Reeve Bailey the opening to put Hornets ahead. They increased their lead with a try from Alex Leeks, but Nailsea responded immediately with a try.

From the restart, Tim Morris broke through the Nailsea defensive line and passed to Reef Morton to score Hornet's last try of the match.

Nailsea fought back with a last minute try, but Hornets won 6-5 with good tagging by Lawrence Pilgrim and Ben Graves.

In the second match, Hornets started well with two early tries from Reeve Bailey and Tim Morris. Hornets' tagging was not as effective as it had been in the first game and Nailsea pulled back to level by half time.

In the second half, neither team tagged very well and both teams scored a further four tries each, with the Hornets tries coming from Aidan McComisky, Tom Reed (2) and Alex Leeks.

Player of the week was awarded to Reeve Bailey.

The Under-10s travelled to Nailsea and Backwell and suffered defeats in both games.

Despite conceding two early tries, Hornets tried to raise their game but were outdone by a strong attacking opposition.

Jake Middleton made some excellent tackles throughout and capped his display with a fine try, his first for the team. Owen Kent and Connor Burns worked hard and put in a lot of effort, but Nailsea continued to attack with speed and score.

Hornets could not offer much in return, but Ieuan Walters competed well in the rucks and Lewis Rickwood carried well with some short breaks. Harrison Wallace made a couple of good runs and Jack Higgins played well in defence. Final score was 45-5 and a lesson in attacking rugby for Hornets.

In the second game, Hornets played better. The scrum improved as Thomas Budd, Andrew Meaghan and Ed Mann found their feet and Charlie Owens made some good breaks.

The defence also improved and Nick Lukins made his tackling count. However, Nailsea continued to break the Hornets defence with pacy runners, crossing for three tries in total. Final score was 15-0 to the hosts.

WINSCOMBE Under-11s had not played any matches since December 13 due to the bad weather, but this week entertained Wellington.

The first try was scored by George Marsh, but Wellington responded well to put pressure on Winscombe's defence, which held firm.

The home side turned over the visitors in a scrum and Gabe Bell broke free and passed to Josh Hunt, who was tackled just short of the line, but Winscombe's Henry Joyner was on hand to score a well-worked try.

Wellington responded with their forwards driving a maul over to score. Winscombe hit back almost immediately when they won a line-out and powered towards the Wellington line. George Harrison and Josh worked well together and pushed their way over the try line, sharing the honours.

In the second half, Winscombe had an excellent passage of play, making some good ground and recycling the ball before a knock on halted their progress.

The backs got into the act when a great kick forward by Will Macarthur and a brilliant chase by Thomas Amer put the visitor's defence under pressure. They were equal to the task and produced a great clearance kick.

Joe Duran had a chance to be on the score card when he drove through a couple of tackles, but super defensive work by the visitors held him up when he crossed the line.

Winscombe then won a scrum close to the line. A slick pass from scrum-half Joe Gallagher allowed Thomas the opportunity to jink his way through to score Winscombe's fourth. All of the tries were converted by Matt Cottington and Will for a final score of 28-7 to Winscombe.

A second game was played with Winscombe developing players and a few from the first game trying different positions.

Wellington fielded a mostly unchanged side and this showed with a dominant performance scoring seven unanswered tries.

There were some notable performances in defensive tackling from Lewy Wall and support from Tom Fear, Matt Callow, Leon and Charlie Clough.

CHARLIE Thompson of Thompsons Sports Academy is presenting a three-day half term rugby camp at Hornets on February 17-19.

The course includes individual rugby development, learning the core skills of rugby, match practices, match analysis and prizes.

The cost is �12 a day (10am-2pm) and the age range is from four to 12-year-olds. Please bring a packed lunch and drink.

For bookings: e-mail charliet76@hotmail.com or phone 07795 955604.