Pethy halt their slide down the league table

25/11/06 - Somerset One: North Petherton 50 v 5 Crewkerne

Report by Lloyd Williams

It has been a while since Petherton have been able to put out a similar team two weeks running, especially in the forwards, and this week was no different. Captain James Lees dropped himself due to an upcoming absence, Steve Doyle is injured, and Tom Williams started on the bench due to illness. After a win the previous week the whole Pethy squad was on a high going into this match and were keen to play some running rugby to entertain the sponsors and local supporters.

Straight from the kick-off and playing up the slope, the tone was set for the hosts to play some attacking rugby, and following a fake clearance kick Lloyd Williams broke from the 22 and ran past half way before he passed inside for it to be knocked on. After 5 mins of the teams testing each other out came the first scrummage. Crewkerne highlighted Petherton’s continuing problems with their set-piece, and throughout the rest of the first half Pethy struggled to win any clean ball from their own scrums. After a penalty in which Pethy kicked to the corner instead of kicking for goal, the forwards set up an excellent driving maul and went over the line with ease, flanker Ross Finlayson eventually coming up with the ball. Lloyd Williams missed the conversion from out wide.

Crewkerne responded and within 3-4 minutes had scored a try close to the posts. It came from a penalty on the Crewkerne 10 for back chat, to which the Pethy pack were marched back another 30 metres for continuing to talk. This good field position gave the visitors momentum and resulted in a forwards try. They failed to get the conversion.

Petherton responded immediately to this with good forward pressure and some slick handling in the back-line sent winger Ben Williams free for a clear run in from the Crewkerne 22. After this Pethy began to dominate the game with good defence and some good handling by the whole team, who were keen to run the ball and offload in the tackle. Pethy were awarded a penalty deep in the Crewkerne half which scrum-half Jarvis tried to take quickly only to be taken down, resulting in a sin binning for the Crewkerne centre. At this point Miles McNeillie was also spear tackled off the ball and had to be replaced by Matt Burge due to a rib injury resulting from the challenge.

A long penalty kick to the corner led to another well worked driving maul from which Finlayson scored his second; again the conversion was missed from wide out. Within minutes Pethy found themselves in the same position but this time the maul was stopped short, only for the backs to take over allowing centre Russ Williams to crash over from short range. Lloyd Williams added the conversion for a 22-5 half time lead.

The Pethy scrum began to get some rhythm going after the break with three props in the front-row, and started to win their own put-in with ease, even pushing the Crewkerne pack around at times. It was only aggressive defence by the Crewkerne side that stopped Pethy totally dominating and running in the tries. Early on Pethy won their lineout after a deep penalty kick, and from another drive over Finlayson seemed to get his 3rd, but the ref could not be sure, giving a scrum which then turned to yet another penalty for dissent as the Pethy players showed their frustration at not getting the try.

Ten minutes into the second half Pethy really began attacking in numbers, with their backs breaking free only to be stopped just before the line. A quick tap-penalty by Jarvis saw prop Matt Glanville stopped just short of the line, but quick ball allowed Jarvis to feed Lloyd Williams who dummied and went over to score under the post, a try which he then converted.

The game then stalled for 10 minutes with both teams conceding penalty after penalty, a sequence eventually broken by the home side as Pethy broke through the visiting defence with some good play between both backs and forwards to get into the Crewkerne 22. A scrum in Petherton’s favour soon led to another penalty being conceded, which Crewkerne ran from a tap. Jarvis tackled the runner before retreating 10 metres and was penalized. It looked as though he would be sin-binned, but in a strange turn of events the referee sin binned stand in Captain Lloyd Williams after he merely told the ref that he didn’t see the incident.

On gaining possession back for the following 10 minutes Petherton were fired up by the eccentric refereeing performance and continually crashed the ball up using both forwards and backs. This eventually produced a well worked attack through the backs which saw Archie Walford have a clean run in from out wide and put down under the posts, which Jarvis converted.

After coming back on after the yellow card Lloyd Williams put Pethy near the Crewkerne 5 metre line with a another long penalty kick, which again the forwards drove close before Finlayson broke to score in the corner, which Williams converted from the touch line. Pethy’s last try came from a couple of good breaks by the backs well supported by the forwards, and the result was Mike Coles picking up from a ruck and diving over to the right of the posts. Lloyd Williams then converted.

The team as a whole played well, especially the power men in the second row of Simon Gingell and Coles who were the key men in the driving mauls. Also Stu Pearn had a solid game at full-back standing in for Tom Williams. The other positives that came from the game, apart from the success of the driving mauls, was the quick ball that the forwards produced throughout the game resulting in the backs looking dangerous throughout. The way the backs and forwards worked well in open play, supporting each other and off loading the ball was also very positive.

Petherton still have much to work on in the scrum and the line-outs before travelling to Martock next week, especially as key jumper and Captain James Lees will be absent.

Many thanks to the Local Farmers who sponsored the game.

Tries: Finlayson (3), B. Williams, R. Williams, L.Williams, A. Walford, Coles

Cons: Jarvis, L. Williams (4)

Pens:

Drop Goals:

Team: 15. Pearn, 14. B.Williams, 13. R.Williams, 12. Havill, 11. A.Walford, 10. L.Williams, 9. Jarvis, 1. Glanville, 2. McNeillie (Rep. M. Burge), 3. Newton, 4. Gingell, 5. Coles, 6. Mantyk (Rep. Lees), 7. Finlayson, 8. M.Brown. Rep Unused: T.Williams