Weston Battle in the Mud

Match report by Shane Connolly

A depleted Weston under 15’s travelled north to a damp Frampton Cotterell. Before the game Weston made the customary procession through the village from the changing rooms to the distant pitch.

Weston received the kick off and responded with a strong charge from Rueben Picardo, what followed was a messy knock on and the subsequent break led to Frampton 1st on the board with a well worked try. Weston were slow to wake up and at 6 minutes, some weak defence saw Frampton touch down another in the corner.

Rallied by stand in captain, Dom Marshall, Weston kicked a penalty to find touch just 8m from Framptons line, a training ground peel by Jay Ewens nearly paid off but for Framptons strong defence. If Weston hadn’t been woken by Framptons first two trys their third certainly did the trick. A Frampton 4th was thwarted by Weston’s Harry Strutt. Weston went into the break 0-15.

The first half’s score belied the work & effort that had been put in from the likes of Billy Howells, Jack Saunders and Brooklyn Chamberlain, Weston definitely looked the fitter side as Frampton started to tire. Their response was a blistering try from Rueben Picardo in the first minute. 10 Minutes in saw a tactical switch at No8 between, the strong Reef Morton, and the pacey Toby Maleham.
Toby’s impact was immediate picking from the base of the scrum to power over the line.

Now in the ascendancy, the stand in 9, Taylor Kingston, continued to give Weston clean ball from nearly every breakdown and even made a break or two himself. Another slipped tackle saw Frampton touch down in what was becoming their favourite corner.
After the kick off Weston continued to press with debutant centre AJ Major foxing Frampton with his dancing feet. Working the ball down the line Weston were judged to have crossed the (non-existent) touchline on a pitch that bore more resemblance to the Somme than Twickers. The following line out saw Frampton set up a maul that was to go nowhere and the ball competed for by Joseph Connolly swimming through a sea of bodies. Weston won back possession and Dom Marshall and George Morton-Bool worked the ball through a couple of loops for Marshall to go over the line. Sensing Frampton were flagging, Weston continued to apply pressure on Framptons line and as the clock ticked, Marshall was able to get one more, leaving Harry Strutt the responsibility to convert to equalise with the final kick of the game.

Final result Frampton Coterrell 22 - Weston 22, and although the whole team played really well Man of the Match had to go to Taylor Kingston for a near faultless display at scrum half.