Petherton were grateful that this game went ahead after a lack of available players at Somerton had already caused them to cancel 5 of their league fixtures so far this season. After talks between the clubs Somerton arrived with the bare 15, which meant that the Petherton Old Players Reunion Day was able to go ahead. In front of the largest crowd of the season, Pethy tried to use the match as preparation for a tough test at Wiveliscombe the following week. Several changes were made to the team from previous weeks; there was no Gingell, Coles or Harvey, who are all playing well at the moment, adding their weight in the pack. However, It did not take long for Pethy to get on the score board, and they continued to score at a steady pace throughout, finishing with 13 tries in total.

Somerton never made it easy in the first half, and throughout the game worked hard to slow the ball down at the break downs, halting many attacks. Most of the tries in the first half came from phases of play where the Pethy pack, and powerhouse centre Chris Burge in particular, drew the opposition backs in, giving the Pethy backs huge overlaps.

It was clear to see that Pethy could score out wide in nearly every play, but that was not the aim, so they continued to use close-in moves. The only real negative point from the first half was when Pethy leaked an unnecessary try from the base of a scrum, where the useful Somerton number 8 picked and went blind from the Pethy 22 meter line, a mix up in defence saw him score under the posts. With so much possession of the ball Pethy were bound to make mistakes and many came from trying to continue to off-load the ball when they should have really held on and set it up.

The second half saw the standard of play drop, even though the tries kept coming. Somerton’s defence broke down and they began to miss more and more tackles. This made it hard for Pethy to play to a game plan. They were unable to put phases together and began to make poor decisions as a result of giving procession away too often, which made for a very stop start game. Most of the tries in the second half came from clean breaks which were well supported by players such as Ross Finlayson, Matt Brown and Ben Williams. One notable break was from prop Harley Brown who ran the ball back from a kick off and got all the way to the five meter line before he unselfishly passed to supporting runner Matt Brown, this completing Brown’s hat-trick.

The forwards all worked well, the scrum was solid and the lineout’s functioned well, the backs were able to try out new moves and supported each other well, with Chris Burge showing good pace and cutting some good angles of running throughout the game.

Tom Williams scored 26 points in total, although he unusually missed a few kicks late on, but generally kicked really well, especially from out wide. Rob Havill converted his own try, and trying to follow suit Ross Finlayson tried to convert his second try and the team’s last which was in front of the posts, but to the amusement of the crowd and his team mates he missed.

This was Miles McNeillie’s and Ross Finlayson’s last home game, unfortunately Miles had to replaced at half time after picking up an injury when he hit a ruck with his customary aggression. Ross was on the shoulder of every break and picked up two tries in the process. The two are off to Australia for a year of rugby, sun and surf. The club wishes them well and presented them with a few items after the match to take away on their travels.

Tries: M.Brown (3), B.Williams (2), Finlayson (2), T.Williams (2), C.Burge (2), Havill, Harvey

Cons: T.Williams (8), Havill

Pens:

Drop Goals:

Team: 15. T.Williams, 14. B.Williams, 13. C.Burge, 12. Havill, 11. S.Pearn, 10. L.Williams, 9. Jarvis, 1. M.Burge, 2. McNeillie (Rep. Glanville, 40), 3. H.Brown, 4. Pocock (Rep. Harvey, 60), 5. Lees, 6. Mantyk, 7. Finlayson, 8. M.Brown. Rep Unused: Webber