Petherton lose first pre-season match

26/08/06 - Friendly: North Petherton 5 v 22 Wellington

North Petherton kicked off their pre-season with a useful workout against Cornwall/Devon Premier side Wellington on a windy afternoon at Beggars Brook. The match was split into four quarters to allow both sides to rotate players and try out different combinations ahead of the new league season. Both sides looked rusty after the summer break, although in the end the visitors were able to find some of their best form in scoring a couple of well-worked tries.

Playing up the slope and into the wind Petherton made a solid start to the game, with neither side looking like scoring in the opening quarter. Wellington were able to put pressure on the home defence with a succession of penalties and kicks to the corner, but Petherton’s defence held firm whilst the Wellington lineout struggled to take clean ball.

In the second quarter the Wellington fly-half began to open the game up with a couple of well-timed passes releasing the visiting side’s quick running backs, who were held up short of the line by some more determined Petherton defending. However, the pressure eventually told as a sliced clearance kick was caught in the wind and landed over the try-line for a Wellington forward to touch the ball down. The try was converted for a half-time lead of 7-0.

The home side began the second half with more purpose but were repelled by a well-organised Wellington defence as they struggled to create any decent try scoring opportunities. It was left to a couple of moments of individual skill to finally break through the visiting defence as a quick break from the back of a ruck by scrum-half Rob Havill was held up just short of the line without him able to find a support runner to finish the move off. This was repeated about ten minutes later when Lloyd Williams, now switched to scrum-half from outside centre, made a similar blind-side break down the left wing, this time kicking the ball over the Wellington winger and beating the covering defence to the touch the ball down. The conversion was missed to leave the score at 5-7.

This seemed to spur the Wellington side into life and they spent the rest of the match attacking the Petherton try-line, scoring soon after the restart as one of the visiting forwards barrelled over from a quickly taken penalty. The conversion was missed but the visitors had begun to find their stride and were soon back in the Petherton 22 where a solid line-out and drive led to the ball being passed through several pairs of hands for their winger to score in the left-hand corner. Again the conversion was missed, but just before the final whistle a tiring Petherton defence was again breached in similar fashion, this time with the ball being worked from the left side of the field for another well-worked try in the right-hand corner. Another missed conversion left the score at 5-22.

There were some positives and negatives for the home side in this performance. The re-organised Petherton scrum, featuring Miles McNeillie in his first game at hooker, having switched from flanker over the summer, and the returning Harley Brown, held up well against a heavier visiting pack. The home side’s defence was also solid, although Petherton will be aiming to improve on their ball-retention and passing out of contact against Chard this coming weekend.

Team: 15. Sutherland-Earl, 14. B Williams, 13. L.Williams, 12. R.Williams, 11. Horsfall, 10. Freeman, 09. Havill, 01. H.Brown, 02. McNeillie, 03. M.Burge, 04. Gingell, 05. Lees, 06. Mantyk, 07. Finlayson, 08. M.Brown.

Replacements (all used): 16. Newton, 17. O'Connor, 18. Doyle, 19. C.Burge, 20. Kirk, 21. Potter, 22. Steward, 23. Andy