Winscombe proved too strong for Minehead, running out comfortable winners.

Minehead 0 pts

Winscombe 29 pts

WITH a strong wind blowing diagonally up the pitch, Winscombe with their dominant scrum and line-out found it difficult to find the Minehead line, despite spending most of the half in Minehead territory.

Stand-off Jim Merryfield secured three points with an early penalty and these remained the only points of the half, until in the dying seconds scrum-half Louis Podpadec scored a try from a messy drive by the Winscombe scrum over the line, with Sam Dearsley adding the convertion.

The first-half was marred by a bad leg injury to Winscombe Colt and winger Jack Brabham. All the club wish him well and trust he manages a happy Christmas.

The second half was a more controlled affair with Winscombe dominant again and in a blind side move, the ball was shipped to replacement winger Jim Rutherford to score, which Dearsley converted.

The Winscombe scrum power was too much for Minehead and a drive over the line saw No 8 and top scorer Will Thomas, collect another try, which Dearsley again converted.

After the restart, Winscombe worked their way upfield and with 15 minutes to go, full-back Dan Selway collected a feed from Podpadec at speed which ruptured the Minehead defence and allowed him to score and gain a bonus point.

The last 10 minutes saw Minehead come alive and camp in the Winscombe half for the remainder of the game.

This Saturday Winscombe host Hornets II at home, kick-off at 2.30pm.