Winscombe defeat a mixed Hornets side in a trial match.

Hornets 2nd & 3rd XV 12 pts

Winscombe 49 pts

HORNETS started this trial match with their big forwards driving holes in the Winscombe defence and this brought them the opening converted try after nine minutes.

The visitors early play was sloppy, but a solid set piece, penalty awards and accurate touch finders kept them on the attack.

Greg Brown stole a line-out from which the front row union created damage to allow Chris Aske to throw a long pass for James Flower to run in for a try and Owen Howell levelled the scores after 17 minutes.

Tom Nock made a fine break from the scrum on halfway when the restart went straight out and once again driving by the front row men left Hornets short of numbers, but the overlap was wasted. The consolation was a three point lead from a penalty by Howell.

Straight from the restart, Winscombe ran the ball to send their left winger away and were close to an immediate score. Hornets eventually cleared to touch, but Will Thomas took a quick throw to send Flower away and from a quick penalty Lucas Humphrey was put in the right corner for the first of his four tries.

The remainder of the half was error strewn and the score remained at 7-15.

Hornets had more players to give game time and this no doubt did not help their cause in the second half.

With superior backs, Winscombe averaged a try every five minutes for the next half hour, all coming from their dominant set piece. There were scores for Thomas, Adam Scrase, Humphrey (3) and Flower.

Having been deprived of possession for 30 minutes, Hornets now made some headway and, finally managing to win a clean scrum ball and drove over for a second try.