Scrum power earns close victory for Dutch touring side

30/03/06 - Tour Match: North Petherton 7 v 12 Gooi

For a full account of Gooi's tour to Wales and Somerset click here. Be warned though - there is some male nudity! You can also visit their club website here.

North Petherton were narrowly beaten in an entertaining and hard-fought evening match against Dutch side Gooi on Thursday night. After the kick-off was put back until 8:30pm due to flight delays from Holland, the match was reduced to 30 minutes each way. The long wait for kick-off seemed to inspire the home side who welcomed the visitors to Somerset with some excellent rucking and mauling, driving the Dutch back into their own 22. A couple of well-worked line-out drives and quick phases of play lead to centre John Gallagher being stopped just short of the posts after 10 minutes.

Having survived the early pressure from the home side, the Dutch number 10 soon found his range with the boot, with a couple of long kicks forcing Petherton back down the slope and into their own half. Gooi's powerful front row started to gain the upper hand in the scrum and this led to their first try after 20 minutes as they shoved the Petherton pack over their own line from a 5-metre scrum for their No.8 to touch down.

Straight from the restart, the visitors were soon back in the Petherton half and beginning to dominate the line-out as well as the scrum. Some whole-hearted defence kept them at bay for a while, but just before the half-time whistle Gooi scored again as they shoved another 5-metre scrum over the Petherton try-line for a carbon copy of their first score. This time the conversion was made and it was 12-0 to the visitors at half-time.

Mike Coles and Mike Chillingworth were introduced at half-time to shore up the scrum and line-out, and Petherton, now playing down the slope, had the better of the possession and territory in the second half. Following some more good mauling and ball-carrying by the Petherton forwards, enough space was eventually made for centre Russ Potter to barrel over the line in typical style close to the posts. Tom Williams then converted.

As the match drew to a close, the home side failed to make the most of an overlap on a couple of occasions, and the visitors held on for a hard-earned, and probably deserved, victory.

Matt Burge (right) demonstrates that when it comes to drinking beer, North Petherton always come out on top!

The players from Gooi sinking a few beers after the game

....and some more

....and some more!