Weston lose out in local derby

WESTON Under-14s took on a changeling side from Burnham and took the lead with try from John Xhan, but Ben James failed to convert.

Burnham managed a lot of pressure and scored and convert but Weston forwards Louis Jory, Casey Stanton, Curtis Hobbs, Connor Dobson, Jack Caulfield, Matt Reeves, Bradley Harvey and Jamie Greatorex came straight back and won most the scrums.

Sam Clark slowed the game so the backs Toby Norman, Ben James, Layton Mehmet, Jordan Bolitho, John Xhan and P J Grimes could manage some goods runs, but little mistakes started to creep in and Burnham scored again, making it 19-12, but Weston heads did not drop .

At the start of the second half Weston made some changes which bought on Luke Lewis, Jacob Scanlon Adam Benz but Burnham scored again for 26-12, but the Weston backs still kept on going and with only minutes left Ben James ran the length of the pitch and score to make the final score 26 to 17. The whole team was man of the match.

The Under-12s entertained Clevedon, who were struggling with numbers and only had nine players so they were offered Rhys Langley and James Peel in the first half and Alex Tyler and Joel Scanlon in the second.

Weston stared well, within in first few Minutes Owen Kelman set up a nice try for Ashley Hardman. Weston kept up pressure, forcing lots of errors, and great tackling from Alex Tyler and Harry Lewis and good passing play from Joel Scanlon allowed Weston to dominate.

Harry Flower and Jacob Cox had a go at breaking the Clevedon defence, but some great passing play opened up space and in a superb run Harry Lewis scored just before half time. First-half score Weston 14, Clevedon 7.

In the second half Clevedon made some good breaks but were held by the Weston pack and were unlucky when one try was held-up.

Ashley Hardman took advantage of a missed pass and broke through the Clevedon defence to score his second try. Harry Lewis and Harry Spedding charged through the Clevedon line to score a try each, while Owen Kelman made some good decisions. Adam Budd, Rhys Langley and Ben Bartlett all had a crack at the Clevedon defence. Coming up to final time, Harry Lewis smashed through to score his third try and just before the end, Weston won a penalty on the Clevedon try line and Tom Sugg score a great late try, for a final score of Weston 45, Clevedon 14.

This week's Huw Langley Solicitors man of the match goes to Owen Kelman.

The Under-8s hosted Clevedon and an excellent game of tag rugby was played. Captained by Lewis Patterson the team showed great improvement by putting in an impressive performance.

In the first match, Weston were fantastic in defence and managed to turn the ball over several times allowing them to run in several tries. Lewis Patterson was outstanding, his positioning and running on to the ball helped his team dominate, Hayden Main and Liam Horsnell stood out in defence, but the team held their line well. Emily Evans and Oliver Kossman deserve a mention for their excellent tagging.

Weston were aggressive in attack, Jack Press had a great and Keelan Hodges Swales was his usual nippy self, Jack Gillet showed promise, while Taylor Kingston, Joe Connelly and Ethan Carey put in solid performances. This close match ended 45-35.

HORNETS Under-12s visited the Keynsham Festival, and the draw found them in a pool facing some old rivals including the home team and a couple of new teams to them.

The first match was against Broad Plain, for a first-time meeting, and they did not know quite what to expect, but started in a determined fashion.

Despite their opponents making a few good runs Hornets comfortably won without giving away a try, thanks to some great work from Will and Tom.

Cheddar were their next opponents, with some big forwards on either side. Fortunately the Cheddar forwards met their match in Oliver and Fen and Hornets again managed to come out on top without losing a point.

Against hosts Keynsham, Hornets were determined to do their best. Keynsham play a physical game but this did not intimidate the likes of Ed, Harry and Scott who took everything that could be dished out to them comfortably and came back for more.

The speed with which Keynsham moved the ball kept everybody on their toes, Sam Aplin recovered ground and allowed the team to go on the offensive. Despite the best efforts by the team and some great runs from Leon the Hornets could not quite hold off Keynsham who won and denied them a place in the cup final.

Hornets met Chew Valley in the Plate and were beaten off the ball consistently by a well organised team and lost out.

The Under-11s, were at Keynsham, having won this tournament last season as Under- 10s. Hornets Under 11s travelled to Keynsham for this year's festival hoping to retain their trophy, but were up against strong opposition in all their pool games.

They played a scoreless draw in their first game with forwards Zac Carver-Cox, Callum Tanner, Louis Vernacombe, Paddy Holyday and Liam Fitzpatrick dominant in scrum and line-out which gave good ball to Bryn Solomon and Jack Richardson to release Tiah Lauder, Blake Williams, Spencer Coe, Thomas Cocking and Jordan Humphris.

Against Cleeve, Esme Bird, Alex Francis, Freddie Dolcezza and Harry Taylor made sure the opposition had to tackle hard to keep Hornets out. Good line-out ball by Paddy and strong running by Spencer could not breech the line.

After sustained pressure, Cleeve got a couple before Jack intercepted to sprint off to score. Cleeve got another before Alex made a break in midfield and fed Jack to go over, final score 3-2 to Cleeve.

Old Bristolians were next and Bryn kept the ball moving while strong running by Liam and Thomas kept Old Bs' on their toes and good territorial kicking by Jordan kept Old Bs in their own half for long periods. However, their ability to recycle quick ruck saw them run in three tries.

The final pool match was against last year's losing finalists, Cheltenham and was another tough game. Cheltenham, out to avenge last year's defeat, started strongly and got a couple early on.

Tiah was showing good strength in midfield and Paddy, Louis, Callum and Zac had strong territory gaining runs. After good interplay between the forwards and backs, Jack received the ball with three in front of him and with the help of the forwards went over for a try. Just before the final whistle Cheltenham got another deserved try to finish 3-1.

The Under-9s entered two mixed teams of equal ability in the Keynsham Festival. The teams, Stingers and Hammers, were in separate pools each containing five teams.

This was the players first taste of contact rugby following many weeks of training.

Participating in Pool A, Hornets Hammers won two matches and drew their third without conceding a try. They dominated their first match against Broad Plain, with tries by newcomers Eddie Williams and Oscar Browne (2). When challenged, Hornets responded well with some excellent tackles, notably from Jack Weaving. In the second half Bradley Lucas sprinted the length of the pitch to deliver the fourth and final try. Hammers 4, Broad Plain 0.

Against Keynsham, strong defensive work came from Ewan McComisky, Sebastian Wood, Locky Carver-Cox, Kyle Godwin and Mitch Hawkes. Hornets proved to be particularly effective with their rucking which provided some opportunities, but the game ended scoreless.

In the final match, the Hammers maintained pressure against St Mary's by beating them 4-0. Tries came from Rhys Clarke, Bradley Lucas (2) and Luke Collins who lead by example and never slowed down.

In Pool B, Hornets Stingers won three of their four matches, commencing against Widden OB. Hornets managed to hold off the opposition with great defensive work from Jack Tottle, Louis Bird and Owen Brake. The only try came in the second half from Charlie Fairhurst, which provided Hornets Stingers with a 1-0 win.

The Stingers continued to impress during their next two games with forwards Joe Frost, Nathan Langdon and George Shepphard driving through as Chew Valley were beaten 2-0, with Charlie Fairhurst scoring a brace this time.

Cleve were also defeated 3-1 which saw Charlie Fairhurst achieving his second brace of the day, and Ayden Chenoweth also crossing the line. The final match was played against Clifton who dominated. Despite continuous battling by Connor Hill, Ethan Loveridge and Ryan Young, Clifton managed to maintain a strong attacking line and beat Hornets Stingers 5-0.

Although both Hornets sides qualified for the runners-up play-off match, the game was not played and the Plate was presented to the Hornets squad.

The Under-13s travelled to Yatton and were under pressure from the start, but good defensive work by Miles Schuker, Dan Bosworth and Curtis Langdon prevented Yatton from scoring in the first few minutes. The forward pressure eventually told and Yatton scored the first try.

Hornets forwards began to apply pressure, the ball was won against the head from a set scrum and Thomas Davison forced his way over to score. Hornets second try came after a good break by Gareth Brock who ran almost the length of the pitch before passing to Byron Marriott who touched down.

Yatton forwards played some strong attacking rugby before powering their way over for their second try and the first half finished with another fine break by Gareth who weaved his way through the Yatton defence for a try.

In the second half, although Hornets scored a further five tries to Yattons nil, they had to work hard. Hornets three-quarter line came into its own with some excellent runs by Jamie Duncan and Kieran Manning. Second-half tries were scored by Thomas Davison (3) and Kieran one. Final score: Hornets 8 tries, Yatton 2.

The Under-10s played three games at the Keynsham Festival and dominated against Widden Old Boys with Nick Lukins and captain Charlie Owens scoring a brace of tries each, Owen Kent making some fine breaks and Jake Middleton putting in some good tackles. Final score was 20-10 to Hornets.

Against Clifton, Jack Higgins combined well with Jake Sjogren to make some quick runs and Connor Burns put in many tackles to limit Hornets to a 15-0 loss.

The final match was against Chew Valley and the Hornets forwards Ed Mann, Thomas Budd and Andrew Meaghan matched the opponents, pinning them on their try line for almost the entire second half. Good support play from Harrison Wallace and the backs helped Ed Mann to drive over for Hornets only try with the game ending in a narrow 10-5 defeat.

The Under-7s played their first games of the season at the Keynsham Festival with James A and Christian making their debuts.

The squad of eight played against Keynsham, Clifton, Cheddar and Chew Valley.

The first game against Keynsham, Hornets were a little slow in starting, but showed a great improvement in the following games in defence and attack. Tries where shared between James M, Joseph, Joshua, Ruby and Charlie, backed up by some good support play from Christian, James A and Robson.

WINSCOMBE Under-17s progressed to the next round of the Bristol Junior Combination Cup with a workmanlike win over St Brendan's.

Tom McMaster capped another superb performance with a try in the first 10 minutes, Max Young had a strong game and was ably assisted by Jake Slade who had a fine game.

The pack were performing well at set pieces and enabled the backs to get plenty of ball. Further tries followed from Will Baldock and Chris Dart, the home side were cruising 17-3 at half time.

The second half never really came to life. Liam Furneaux passed the ball well and Dom Sheridan made plenty of strong runs. Shane Colborne had a superb game and Will Portas was busy all game.

Although Winscombe dominated all aspects of the half, they lacked the killer instinct and an unforced error enabled the visitors to score a try, but Winscombe finished the day with another fine score from Chris Dart. Man of the match was Shane Colborne.

The Under-15s got back to winning ways with a comprehensive 55-7 victory over Wellington.

Wellington put the first points on the board when poor tackling allowed them to score in the corner and an excellent conversion from the touchline followed.

Once Winscombe put pressure on, Wellington found it difficult to live with them especially as they were reduced to 14 men in the first half.

Winscombe's first try was scored by Sam Gunning following excellent work from Max Maddison and Nick Thompson. Adam Male added the second, Matt Lloyd burrowed over from close in for the third before Dan Bond crossed following a powerful run from midfield. The final score in the first half came from Thompson after being set up by Peter Hooper. Robbie Mackay added two conversions to bring about a half time score of 29-7.

In the second half Mackay ran from half-way to score. Tom Day, playing his first match since returning from injury set up Eddie Farmer and then Sam Denham added another as a result of a fine individual effort. The final try was added by Lloyd again from close in. Mackay added three more conversions in a convincing team performance.

The Under-8s debutants impressed at Thornbury in their first competitive fixtures.

The Red Tags won 9-7 with Archie Alexander releasing Ben Mullin for a great opening try.

Thornbury came back quickly in a well earned individual try. A move with Charlie Davies, Ben, George Alvis, was completed by Tom Field who ran in his first competitive try. The next two tries came from Ben and Charlie, but were matched by an impressive Thornbury.

The second half saw another debutant try, this time from Eva Hobson. Lewis Gilbert and George added more tries, but again Thornbury were always in this game. Sam Smith had a great run and put Tom in for his second try and final try of the match.

In a second game the Blue Tags won 7-3 and welcomed new players Ben Morris, Sam, Max Howell and Julian Laws to the team. First tries came from James Fowler, William Peace and Ru Scofield. Winscombe defended their lead well with a much better period of tagging. James stole the ball back and passed to William for the final try of the half.

The second half saw a great run by Max, that ended with a try for Harley Walton. The roles were reversed, seeing Harley release Max for his first try of the season. William then broke through to give Ru the last try of the game.

The Under-11s met University College London in a game of two halves. The visitors scored a superb backs' try in the first 30 seconds, but the home side regrouped well to dominate for a period, the forwards took the ball almost to the UCL line but were halted. However Tristan Greene won the line-out against the head and powered through to score the equaliser.

UCL regained the lead with a penalty, but Winscombe took a scrum against the head and used the backs well to put Gabe Bell into space to cross the try line.

At the start of the second half Winscombe had a 14 to 12 lead, but after several substitutions they could not quite match the first half performance. Thomas Amer had an excellent run to return a penalty kick and Winscombe defended bravely but the visitors made the most of playing on the larger pitch, winning by 31 points to 14.

YATTON Under-9s showed a marked improvement in their games against Gordano and were unfortunate not to have come away with their first win of the season after drawing their first game 4-4.

Dylan Wallis, Charlie Crombleholme and Finbar Lawrence put in some great tackles which stopped Gordano and from one Lawrence tackle the ball was shipped out to Jay Murray who raced to score a try in the corner.

In the second game, Yatton players began to tire, and in the first half remained in the game, but struggled with the speed and size of a couple of the Gordano side. Yatton dug in deep, but in the second half Gordano ran out 6-3 winners.