Winscombe Too Strong

Weston U15s travelled to Winscombe for an eagerly anticipated game, confident after last week's cup victory. Weston started very strongly with the pack dominating in the loose and getting the early nudge on in the scrum to drive Winscombe off their own ball. This should really have been the platform for the Weston 8 to dominate the game, but instead, early promise was lost and Weston allowed the opposition to come back into the contest. This led to over-eagerness on the Weston players part and being unable to stay on their feet at the breakdown a succession of penalties were conceeded. Winscombe now won good ball and this opened things up for their impressive backline to attack. Some poor defence left too much space and after 11 minutes Winscombe crossed to score against the run of play. Weston responded well but once again, penalties conceeded at the breakdown proved costly. Winscombe were able to attack and once again created space out wide to score a second try after 19 minutes. Weston regrouped well once again and came back, with Sol Ward and Mike Ward both making excellent charging runs deep into Winscombe territory. However a lack of support allowed Winscombe to clean out the breakdown and clear the ball to safety. At half time Winscombe led 10 nil. The start of the second half was always going to be hugely important and Weston began it well with James Aucott making a superb chase and tackle from the restart. Weston again looked strong and now began winning good ruck ball which the backs should have done better with. Then came the moment that ended the contest. With Weston on the atack a high ball just outside the 22 was spilled by the Winscombe winger and Aaron Norton kicked on. Winscombe got back to stop the chance and then kicked long down-field with no advantage being given for the Winscombe knock on. Weston somehow managed to get cover back to stop Winscombe's breakaway, but conceeded a 5 metre scrum, from which Winscombe scored their 3rd try. With the conversion good, Weston were now up against it and heads dropped slightly. To the lads credit, they battled on, but a further try and two in the last five minutes gave a rather flattering scoreline. Winscombe fully deserved the victory, but Weston were not helped by some poor decisions and a Winscombe openside who should have seen yellow at least twice for a spear tackle and a close line immediately after receiving a final warning for fighting. This was a dissapointing day for the players, but a good 'reality-check.' Clearly we have work to do, but everyone is onside and looking forward to putting this result down as a benchmark for the season. There were some great performances today, not least from Dan Smith, Stefan Thompson-Rose and captain Liam Hynes who was chosen as the man of the match by Winscombe. However, the bigest pats on the back go to Keinen Holbrook, who made some superb tackles and debutant 'Chow' who had a fantastic game