Weston win battle of the Seasiders

WESTON Under-11s continued their superb form this season by defeating a spirited Minehead side in two 20 minute games away to their fellow seaside rivals.

On a heavy and sloping Tom Stewart field, Weston took little time in shaking off their travel legs, with their superb pack soon into full stride Weston scored through prop George Bamsey, followed soon after by a great individual try by speedy winger Luke Wheeler, who jinked his way over from well inside his own half.

Other tries followed through Eddie Davies, Bamsey and Josh Gardner, who goes from strength to strength. The final result was 25-0 to Weston.

In match two, Weston continued to dominate all phases with Jack Howard pounding the home defence, with Mitchell Bird and hooker Jimmy Bamsey in close support.

The backs, in particular Adam Rogerson and Aaron Snow, also had a great day with some free flowing attacking rugby. Weston ran in four tries through Davies, Howard, Archie Tilsley and Bamsey, winning 20-0.

The Under-10s started well with a try from Joe Harper in a game against Minehead. Despite great defence by Jack Nicholds and Mateo Turvey, Minehead scored twice to take the lead.

The second half saw Weston’s pack get the better of the battle with great scrummaging from James Feltwell and Will Durston making thumping tackles. Minehead broke the pattern of play to score again, but Nicholds replied in the corner.

Weston’s Daniel Harness showed great form, but Minehead scored again to win the game 5-2.

The second game saw Weston’s form come together with probing runs by Harness, Harper, Nicholds and Durston and Jack Schafer playing well at scrum-half. Minehead opened the scoring, but Harper scored a well-deserved equaliser.

In the second half, the strong forwards of Reece White and Josh Edwards drove over the Minehead line, but were held up as the game ended in a draw.

Weston Under-7s travelled to Minehead and performed exceptionally well. Both teams started the first-half with great intent and scored some great tries. Minehead opened their account with a good score, but Weston hit back from the restart with Tom Blythe scoring his first of the match.

Minehead scored again and Blythe got his second. Weston fought well and there was some great tagging and Weston were really backing each other up, enabling Harry Collard to score. Danny Bamsey showed his pace again and also scored.

Minehead came back again and Weston’s William Flavin backed his team-mates up to be rewarded with a score. Minehead scored a fourth, but Blythe got his third to take the score to 6-4 at half-time.

George Nuttycombe opened his account with a weaving run to the corner. Minehead replied with two tries and then Weston worked a great loose ball from Minehead with some super passing for George Nuttycombe to finish the match off with his fourth try. The game finished 10-7 to Weston, with great support from Tom and Cameron.

In the other match Jacob, Hew and James all supported each other to ensure that the match was evenly set, ending in a draw, ensuring that all the players had a good and particularly muddy time

HORNETS Under-15s put together a superb performance against Barnstaple running in 10 tries in the process.

With the forwards winning plenty of quick ball, the backs ran in some stunning tries through Francis, Littlewood, Xanh (2), Lowrie (2) and Nicholls in the first half and with Francis converting all the tries, Hornets went into the break leading 49-0.

The second half saw a string of changes and despite leaking a couple of tries, Hornets managed another three tries through Davidson, Littlewood and Hobbs. Francis added a further two conversions to make the final score 68-12.

In a cracking all-round display, it was Caulfield who made off with the Newport Caravans man of the match award.

The Under-9s entertained Clifton on a sticky Hutton Moor pitch and with the school half-term affecting player availability, the Under-9s and 10s joined forces to play their Bristolian opponents.

In the first game, Hornets struggled to come to terms with new faces in their team and as a result, there were missed tackles. Clifton were much quicker getting to the ball, and ripped the ball from the Hornets to run in a 6-0 scoreline.

Hornets re-grouped for the second game and put in a much better performance. There was better rucking and this meant there was more possession. Ethan Loveridge ran in a first half try after a good passing move. This was followed by a Reef Morton burst through the middle that took out several Clifton players and Lawrence Pilgrim touched down in the corner from the resulting ruck.

However, a lack of tackling around the legs let Clifton in to score a late try and the score was 2-2 at the final whistle.

Keynsham took the lead against the Under-16s, but Hornets replied with a great try by centre Louis Zymiacos, who ran from the halfway line to score.

After the break, Hornets could not quite finish off several promising moves. Chris Ginger was outstanding in the line-out, taking most of the Keynsham ball.

The game seemed to be heading for a draw, but Keynsham scoring a try with 10 minutes left. With time running out, Keynsham converted a penalty and scored another try right on the final whistle.

There was some great tackling from Zymiacos and Carl Cox, but the man of the match award went to Charlie Carter.

AFTER their eight-try fest against Wellington in the cup last week, Winscombe Under-14s recorded another eight-try score against local rivals Hornets.

With a spate of injuries in the front row and further absences on half-term skiing trips, Winscombe’s pack had an unfamiliar look to it.

However, they began brightly with temporary prop Tom Cooksey running in the first of his four tries on the day shortly after the start. Soon after he did it again, breaking through the home three-quarter line to score for Charlie Beake to convert.

It wasn’t long before Toby Sims also broke the line for another try beneath the posts, followed by a characteristic Josh Daly try wide on the left.

Ten minutes gone and Winscombe had a built up a commanding 24-0 lead, but Hornets started to pick up the pieces. They kept up some excellent pressure on the Winscombe fly-half and after stringing some good phases together were able to score on the Winscombe left.

After the break, Cooksey was once again on the rampage, two more quick tries including one run of the whole pitch left Winscombe firmly in control. A slickly executed move from Sam Rees, through Toby Sims gave Daly his second soon afterwards.

With Winscombe now resting on their laurels their defence became sloppy and Hornets scored their second try. From the restart, Hornets again drove up the pitch and kept Winscombe pinned back, until Daly spotted a gap and sprinted from his own five metre line to make the try with the last move of the game.

Tries: Tom Cooksey (4), Josh Daly (3), Toby Sims. Conversions: Charlie Beake (2).