Winscombe ended the season on a high note with an away victory at Tor.

Tor 0 pts

Winscombe 26 pts

WINSCOMBE finished the season with a fine away victory at Tor, ending up with a top five finish in the Somerset Premier League.

In the first seven minutes Winscombe racked up 19 points without reply and Tor spent the rest of the game desperately trying to catch up.

Good work by Jim Rutherford, Callum Stewart, Chris Ask, Steve Pugh, Niall Dunkley and Lewis Podpadec set up Stewart for the first try.

A line-out was secured by Ryan Robinson for Howell and Rutherford to make ground, before Thomas set up Pugh for the second try, which he converted.

Thomas caught the restart to set up a ruck from which the ball went out to Dunkley. A forward pass gave Tor a put-in. It was taken against the head and Thomas used the wheel to break off and feed Podpadec.

He made ground before handing on to Dunkley, but Podpadec had kept running and was on hand to claim the third try on seven minutes. Pugh added the extras.

Tor hit back and drove to within five metres of the line, but a combined tackle by Simon Thompson and Louis Hooper won their team a penalty. A threequarter move came equally close before being snuffed out by Flower and Pugh.

After a period of pressure, a misdirected long pass was picked out by Dunkley and, against the run of play, he ran in under the posts for the bonus point try, converted by Pugh.

Despite being four tries down, Tor had competed well in the first-half and came out after the break with undiminished intent. A man to the good for 20 minutes, they attacked narrowly and were met by determined fringe defence and a solid midfield trio.

When they did manage to make inroads, the drift defence was good enough to allow Stewart and Pugh to cover with textbook low tackles. At the same time, Winscombe’s back three, especially Stewart were dangerous on the counter.

Warren’s tackle count during the final 10 minutes was impressive and acting captain Flower made two important hits. Tor were desperate to get on the scoreboard, but the visitors were even more determined to prevent them.