1st XV
Matches
Sat 25 Jan 2014  ·  SSE National League 3 South West
Lydney
31
0
Weston-super-Mare RFC
1st XV
Scoreline doesnt reflect competitive match

Scoreline doesnt reflect competitive match

dave burge31 Jan 2014 - 19:17
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Match report courtesy of Tony Russell

Weston suffered a defeat against promotion chasing Lydney at a windswept Regentsholme, but the scoreline did not reflect the effort put in by the Seasiders, nor the highly competitive nature of the match.
The visitors should have taken the lead after twelve minutes when a Lydney passing move broke down on the Weston 22. Weston progressed 75 metres downfield for Ross Bennett to touch down under the posts…to no avail. Affray broke out on the 22 and referee Richard Harding mysteriously disallowed the score and brought play back all the way for……a Weston scrummage! Why ?!!! Attacking opportunities were few and far between in difficult conditions without that sort of decision going against them. To add insult to injury, flanker Shaun Eaton was brutally felled in an off the ball incident. Subsequent hospital treatment revealed a severely broken jaw, and an end to his season.
Both sides continued to try to play attacking rugby, with Lydney shading possession, and with Bufton in the sin bin for the visitors, they took a narrow 3-0 lead via a Wicks penalty into the sanctuary of the changing room at half time.
The second half was only three minutes old when Wicks converted a highly disputable try from prop Price, with suspicion of illegal blocking, not for the first time unpunished, and forward pressure against the seven forwards yielded a penalty try. 3-0 had swiftly become 17-0.
Weston lost Bennett to a calf injury which required major reshuffling to the backs, with Jones doing a sterling job as a stand in scrum half, and Middlemiss excellent at full back, and there was no further scoring for the next 25 minutes as the visitors fought an outstanding rearguard action, but the dyke burst in the last eight minutes with tries from Vine and Hannam, both converted to give a slightly distorted view to the final scoreline although Lydney undoubtedly deserved the win.
Weston will rue the cruelty of the decisions that went against them, and a swingeing and totally inexplicable penalty count of 12-4 in favour of the home side! …There were two sides on the pitch!!
There are ten League matches remaining…7 of which are at home, and with players returning from injury, there is good spirit and optimism in the camp.
Weston team….T.Bellak, H.Jones (S.Edwards), S.Smee, K.Middlemiss, M.Watkins, J.Mackay, R.Bennett, D.Swann, C.Withers, K.Hobbs (S.Donegan), D.Bufton, A.Glen, S.Eaton (A.Russell), P.Morrissey, G.Sparks.

Match details

Match date

Sat 25 Jan 2014

Kickoff

15:00

Meet time

11:00

Location

Instructions

Kick off at 2.30pm

Competition

SSE National League 3 South West
Team overview
Further reading