Pethy battle well to hold on to third place

10/03/07 - Somerset One: Wiveliscombe 14 v 14 North Petherton

Report by Lloyd Williams

With the unavailability of front-rowers Miles McNeillie, Matt Glanville and John Webber, Pethy traveled away without a recognised hooker, but their problems were eased slightly when at the last minute Simon Gingell made himself available after the birth of his second baby on Wednesday night. As well as being a local derby, Pethy are also looking to secure their highest placed finish in the league since being relegated from the Somerset Premier in 2004, and a win for Wiveliscombe would have brought them level with Petherton in third place. Many of the Pethy squad have never experienced an away win at Wivey, which is always a tough place to play at, so it was always going to be a close run thing.

In the first half Petherton played down the slope had most of the possession and the opportunities to score more points than they did by the half-time whistle. What stopped them was the frequent good tackling from Wiveliscombe and the fact that Pethy were conceding penalties on a regular basis, and always at important times. This allowed the Wiveliscombe full-back to clear their lines on nearly every occasion that Pethy came close to scoring.

A major positive during the first half was the pressure that the Pethy pack put on the home team’s scrum, in which they were able to make it very hard for Wiveliscombe to get any clean ball, and sometimes even managed to drive Wiveliscombe off their own ball.

Powerhouse centre Chris Burge was used as a battering ram for the first twenty minutes but was unable to break through, although some success started to come as Pethy began to widen the attack.

Pethy’s only try came from a good driving maul by the forwards to inside the Wiveliscombe 22. After it was brought down, the ball went wide to Chris Burge who ran straight drawing in the defence, leaving Rob Havill to run across the pitch into space. He then passed to full-back Tom Williams who drew the remaining defender, releasing wing Ben Williams. He was well tackled just before the line but managed to off-load the ball to inside centre Rob Havill who dived over the line. Tom Williams just missed the conversion from out wide.

Wivey did break on several occasions but were well tackled behind by the covering Petherton defence. They also continued to steal the ball at many break downs, with the home team’s open side flanker outstanding with the ball in hand, tackling and disrupting the Pethy ball.

Petherton went to the break frustrated that they had not scored more points and concerned about the number of turnovers and penalties they were giving away, but happy with their defence as they kept Wivey scoreless.

Pethy started the second half in the worse possible way, even though they had caught the kick-off and cleared their lines well; they then gave a penalty away at the ensuing lineout. Their full-back kicked to 5 meters away from the Pethy line, and they then caught lineout and drove over to score, with their full-back converting. Within minutes of the whistle Pethy were now trailing 7-5. It was the same story last year, when Pethy held a slender lead playing up the slope in the second half before conceding two quick scores, after which they never got back into the game. But this time Pethy showed great character and continued to battle hard.

Not long after the try, Pethy strung together some good phases of play, and with a few half breaks from the backs and good drives with all of the forwards contributing at some point, the home team eventually conceded a penalty within range for Tom Williams, and he easily kicked to put Pethy back into a narrow 8-7 lead.

Soon after the kick-off Wivey were again on the Petherton try-line. They defended well for the next 10 minutes, only briefly relieving pressure with clearance kicks and the odd good bit of play which saw backs and forwards off loading well in the tackle area. When they were out of the danger areas however, they again conceded more penalties at the breakdown. After one unsuccessful kick at goal, Wivey elected to kick for the corners. With Pethy holding out well, Wivey struggled to break through with their forwards, but they changed tactics and released their backs and after an unusual error in the defensive line, Wivey scored an exact copy of Pethy’s first half try, which was well converted by their full-back to put them 14-8 in front.

After absorbing pressure for the next 10 minutes deep within their own half, in which Pethy had little option but to clear their lines with kicks, they changed tactics and had a run. Rob Havill, who looked dangerous throughout, spotted a gap and Lloyd Williams put him through, and this play continued all the way up to the Wivey 22 meter line. It also involved strong runs from Harley Brown and Mike Coles, during which it took several players to bring them down. It ended in a penalty for Pethy, which was kicked by Tom Williams to put Pethy only 3 points behind.

With less than 10 minutes now left, the Pethy pack began to really dominate up front again and gave the backs continuous ball, and a couple of good breaks from backs around the middle of the pitch saw things begin to open up for them. One move saw Ben Williams in space but unable to hold on to the pass, and another saw the forwards inter pass well to set up quick ball twice, giving Lloyd Williams the opportunity to run at forwards in the back line, but he was just unable to off load to Chris Burge at pace when he would have been through to score. A Wivey hand also tactically got in the way of a pass to Rob Havill which would have put him in to masses of space behind the defensive line. During this period of time Pethy only went backwards through defensive clearance kicks, and looked the more likely to score.

In the last minutes of the game Pethy had a lineout just inside the Wivey 22 meter line, and after a short drive by the forwards, the ball was released along the back line. It was spread wide quickly and eventually Havill was half tackled but off loaded, and quick hands produced a two on one, the last man was drawn in and Stew Pearn set off to the corner, but the covering defence just got to him in time. However, a penalty had already been awarded for an offside offence, and with the home crowd outraged and making it known, Tom Williams held his nerve and with the last play of the game kicked the penalty that secured a draw.

Pethy gave away too many penalties and often turned the ball over too easily, but they battled hard and felt that they deserved at least the draw. Wivey played smart throughout and often stopped Pethy from winning the ball back at many ruck's by lying over the ball or by putting pressure around the fringes and getting through to steal the ball.

All the forwards played well, especially the front row and the stand in hooker Harley Brown, and they all tackled hard, covering the whole pitch and carrying the ball well in attack. Scrum-half Karl Jarvis had a great game, he was a constant pest to the Wivey 8 and 9, went on a few snipping runs, marshaled his forwards well, and gave the backs quick ball whenever possible.

Tries: Havill

Cons:

Pens: T.Williams (3)

Drop Goals:

Team: 15. T.Williams, 14. S.Pearn, 13. C.Burge, 12. Havill, 11. B.Williams, 10. L.Williams, 9. Jarvis, 1. M.Burge, 2. H.Brown, 3. Coles, 4. Lees, 5. Harvey (Rep. Mantyk, 45), 6. Gingell, 7. Finlayson, 8. M.Brown. Rep Unused: D.Steward