Winscombe retain the county cup

IN a thrilling encounter at Weston, Winscombe Under-16s just managed to hold on to the county cup they won at Under-15 level last year.

The match began well for Winscombe, with Sam Dearsley setting full-back Sam Rees to cross the line with barely a minute on the clock. Dearsley added a tricky touchline conversion.

Towards the end of the first-half, a Rhys Lewis run took Winscombe into the Combe Down 22. Several phases of forward play followed before Curtis Langdon dived over the line to give Winscombe a 12-0 lead at half- time.

After the break, Winscombe scored again when Josh Daly scored beneath the posts for a simple Dearsley conversion. Combe Down started to show some self belief and scored a try, before Dearsley slotted over another penalty.

Combe Down scored two more quick tries through the forwardsto set up a tense finish for both sides. With the clock ticking down, Winscombe managed to keep possession and ran out narrow winners.

Winscombe had some other good news to celebrate, with two players - Sam Rees and Darren Atkins, Darren sadly absent from the cup side through injury - selected earlier in the season for the England Under-16 squad.

Darren went on to play for England North in wins over France B, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and Sam played for England South in a draw with France A, and wins over Scotland and USA.

WESTON Under-10s travelled to Clevedon for two games with two tales.

The visitors opened the scoring when Matthew James barged his way over. Clevedon were quick to respond to even the scores.

Lottie Dodd, Jamie Meadon and Adam Kelly all had good games, while Alfie Calcutt led the tackle count. Tom Wills popped up for a try to make it 5-10 for the away team at the break.

In the second half, Weston’s front row of Charlie Harding, Tom Burdge and Matthew James began to take control. Charlie was first to strike ploughing his way through for a try and when Adam became Alfie’s wingman, this enabled Alf to fly his way through for another try.

Two minutes later Jamie offloaded the ball to a loan player for another score. The try of the day came as Weston held Clevedon on their own line, stole the ball and fed it to Charlie, who ran the length of the pitch to end the game 10-30 to Weston.

After a short rest and a swapped Clevedon side wanting revenge, the hosts ran in three tries, despite Matthew and Tom making strong tackles. Weston replied with a try by Alfie after good work by Joel and Lottie.

Despite good tackling by Charlie, Matthew and Tom, Clevedon went on to win the second game 30-5.

Six high-quality games of rugby were played by the Under-7s away against Clevedon and Tetbury at the weekend.

Both the A and B teams narrowly lost their first games by a single try, with Billy Charlton and Ben Donachie both scoring and tagging furiously for the A team and similar skills being shown by Jack Hobbs and Aaron Cocking for the Bs.

As the teams switched opponents for their next games, William Bamsey showed his mettle with foraging runs, ably supported by Kaiden Robertson.

Finlay Simpson claimed many tags and Thomas Crane battled hard and in the end a 4-4 draw was a fair result.

The B team achieved a 6-6 draw as Mark Gowland made a strong run to set an impressive try by Ollie Dadds.

Weston fielded their older boys against a determined Tetbury team where Ben Crook showed great awareness and agility with the ball, and Sam Slingsby added to his try count, with Weston ending with a 4-3 victory.

The final game saw the addition of Tom and Harry Collard, returning from their secondment to the Under-8s. A fluid and exiting game resulted ending with a 4-4 draw.

The Under-8s had a spectacular days rugby away at Clevedon and also played against touring side Tetbury.

First up was Clevedon, who got the early break and scored. Weston equalised quickly and from then on were in complete control. They only allow Clevedon to score once more and ran in seven tries to take the score to 7-2 to Weston.

There were scores from Harry Collard, George Nuttycombe, William Flavin and Jacob Simpson all scoring twice.

Next up was Tetbury and Weston did not disappoint, once again they passed the ball accurately, backing each other up enabling them once again to score some superb tries.

Weston had the upper hand once again making sure they got the turnovers which were excellently converted into tries. All the team played their part with scores from William Flavin, Ben Crook, Tom and Harry Collard and George Nuttycombe (5).

Bailey Seviour had an attempt in the dying seconds of the match, only to be denied. The score finished 9-4 to Weston.

HORNETS Under-13s played two matches at the weekend, the first game was at home against Welsh side Abertillery in one of the most entertaining games of the season.

Hornets found themselves trailing after only five minutes, but they regrouped and replied with tries from Jake Middleton and Alex Francis, the second converted by Jordan Humphris.

The scoring continued with Tyler Haynes powering through to score between the posts, converted by Dan Odea, soon followed by Middleton’s second of the day, converted by Humphris, as Hornets led 26-10 at half-time.

Hornets started the second half with Haynes and Middleton scoring a try apiece, the first converted by Odea, before Abertillery scored a try. Hornets responded with a great team move, ending with Middleton scoring his fourth try of the day, converted by Odea.

The match began to get stretched as the visitors ran in two tries, Hornets replied with tries by Josh Entwistle as they ran out 57-32 winners. Man of the match was Josh Cooke.

In the second game, Hornets travelled to North Petherton and despite conceding an early try and conversion, proved too powerful for their hosts.

The forwards put in a dominant performance with Michael Brooks hooking well in the scrum. The final score saw Hornets win 62-12 with tries by Jake Middleton (5), Tyler Haynes (2), Nick Hitchens, Josh Cooke and Sam Forster. Conversions were by Cooke (4) and Hitchens (2) Man of the match Rhys Manning.

The Under-14s welcomed Swindon to Hutton Moor and soon scored with a pick-up-and-surge by Paddy Holyday, converted by Keane Williams.

Josh Entwistle, Thomas Cocking and Liam Fitzpatrick were enjoying themselves in the front row and looking to steal the ball at every scrum. Hornets launched an attack

An attack by Blake Williams, Jordan Humphris set Jack Higgins free. When he was held just short, a pop ball by Harry Taylor found Holyday to score, converted by Humphris.

Soon after, Adam Dover won a line-out which was fed out to Higgins, who gave a scoring pass to Bryn Turner. Hornets scored another two tries, Holyday taking his total to four.

After the break, Jim Constable got into the faces of the opposition and forced a mistake, picking up a loose ball and scoring his first try for Hornets, converted by Humphris.

Swindon hit back with a try, but a good break by Robinson set up Taylor for a try, before Swindon scored another try. Hornets finished the scoring with tries for Aryan Foroughi and Dover (2) as they ran out 58-12 winners.

The Under-11s played two games during their Devon tour in dry and sunny conditions.

First up were North Dorset and the sides were evenly matched. Hornets won most of the scrums, but North Dorset won most of the line-outs. However, a good rolling maul by Hornets resulted in a try for Lloyd Chudley, converted by Reeve Bailey. Hornets conceded a quick try, but the conversion hit the post.

The second half was stalemate, although Hornets’ defence was much better. Sol Midgley was held up just short for his first try and Hornets held on to win 7-5. Newton Abbot were more alert following two penalties, where two of their tries were scored with most Hornets players facing the wrong way.

Hornets were well beaten five tries to nil and both games were refereed by former Exeter professional rugby player Roger Hutchinson

After the games, the parents of each age group played tag rugby. The Under-11s lost their game, but Lisa Bailey scored a superb diving try in the corner.