Petherton have an off-day

07/10/06 - Somerset One: North Petherton 7 v 20 Imperial

Report from the Bridgwater Mercury

North Petherton had one of those days at Beggars Brook on Saturday as they lost their 100% record to typically forward-dominated Bristol side Imperial. The kick-off was delayed by half an hour because the appointed match referee failed to show. Petherton committee member and qualified referee Clive Williams was persuaded to take the whistle at the last minute.

Having started the match without in-form centre Rob Havill due to a back injury, Pethy soon lost their other centre Russell Williams in the first minute. He was concussed landing on his head after an accidental collision with an opponent who was tackling full-back Tom Williams. Archie Walford replaced him in the Petherton back-line that had something of a makeshift look about it with winger Ben Williams (on holiday) also missing.

Despite this, Petherton made a decent start to the match, earning an early penalty which was missed by Tom Williams. However, Pethy soon scored a try when flanker Matt Brown broke through the visitors defence, taking a crash ball from a line-out move and touching down near the posts. Tom Williams made the conversion to give Pethy a 7-0 lead.

That was as good as it got for Petherton as Imperial began to dominate the scrum, turning over most of the home sides possession and giving themselves a platform to play a tight game, mauling their way up the pitch and applying pressure at every Petherton set-piece. It was from a turnover scrum in the home 22 that Imperial scored their first try, breaking from the scrum and eventually driving over the line. Their fly-half made an excellent conversion from wide-out and soon added another well-struck penalty to give them a 10-7 half time lead.

In a scrappy second half, in which Petherton were unable to get enough quick ball out to their backs, and unfortunately took the wrong option when they did, they rarely looked like scoring. Midway through the half, Imperial turned over possession at a maul and broke upfield, and with their forwards arriving in numbers the ball eventually went out to their right-winger who scored at the second attempt after breaking through a couple of last-ditch tackles. The conversion was missed leaving the score at 15-7.

Petherton managed to respond with a sustained period of pressure in the visitors 22, earning five penalties in succession, but were unable to breakthrough a resolute Imperial defence, eventually giving away possession when lock Steve Doyle was penalised for stamping after Imperial's forwards again slowed the ball down. To underline the home side's frustration, Imperial broke away again in final minute to seal victory with a well-taken try as the tiring Petherton defence failed to get back in enough numbers.

Steve Doyle and Simon Gingell battled away well in the Second Row, but otherwise it was a performance to forget.

Tries: M.Brown

Cons: T.Williams

Pens:

Drop Goals:

Team: 15. T.Williams, 14. Archer, 13. R.Williams (Rep. A.Walford), 12. S.Pearn, 11. Carrow, 10. L.Williams, 09. Ryburuk, 01. H.Brown (Rep. Frost), 02. McNeillie, 03. Glanville (Rep. M.Burge), 04. Gingell, 05. Doyle, 06. M.Brown, 07. Finlayson, 08. Lees.