Petherton safely through to round three

28/10/06 - EDF Junior Vase: North Petherton 24 v 20 Torrington

Report from the Bridgwater Mercury

North Petherton edged out Torrington at Beggars Brook on Saturday to reach the third round of the EDF Junior Vase national cup competition. Tries from flanker Matt Brown in the first half, and wing Bradley Archer and centre Carl Jarvis in the second half, saw Petherton through against a resilient Devon outfit, who play at the same league level as the home side.

But for a number of dropped passes, twice from Simon Gingell and Luke Carrow when clean through the visiting defence and with the try-line at their mercy, the score would have been more comfortable for the home team.

Torrington dominated the opening exchanges with some impressive forward play and intelligent kicking down the slope, but failed to take advantage of a couple of kickable penalties within the first ten minutes. They soon made their good start count with a try after twenty minutes when their forwards rumbled over the line from a line-out. The try was converted and quickly followed by a penalty giving them a 10-0 lead.

Petherton eventually got going after their sluggish start, and a decisive break from the half-way line by hooker Miles McNeillie, well-supported by full-back Tom Williams, sent Brown over the line. Williams then made the conversion from wide-out to make the score 7-10.

The rest of the half became a scrappy affair as both packs tried to gain the upper hand, and several off-the-ball spats broke out, mostly involving the visiting left-winger and any Petherton player he could grab. This seemed to galvanize the home side, and a five-meter scrum to Torrington near the Petherton try-line proved to be the turning point of the match. Having been dominant in the scrums for most of the half, the visitors seemed certain to score, but instead were driven several meters backwards and eventually into touch for a Petherton line-out. Pethy secured the ensuing throw and cleared to touch to make it to half-time with only a three point deficit.

With the wind and the slope in their favour, Pethy began to dominate at the beginning of the second-half and Archer soon scooted over for his try following some nice build up play by captain James Lees for a score under the sticks. Williams made the simple conversion.

Then came the errors as Petherton failed to put the visitors away after a number of flowing attacking moves came to nothing. New signing Carl Jarvis soon made amends for the mistakes, slipping a couple of tackles as he finished off another good move involving forwards and backs, as Pethy begun to re-discover their early season form.

Having been on the back foot for twenty-five minutes, the visitors forced their way back into the match with another try from their forwards, taking advantage of some slack defensive work by the home pack. The try was unconverted and Petherton soon extended their lead with a penalty kick from Williams to make the score 24-15.

This was not the end of the scoring as Torrington again responded with a try, this time from a rolling maul that was stopped twice but allowed to continue. The conversion was missed, but Petherton were able to see out the remaining minutes for a hard-fought victory.

Tries: M.Brown, Archer, Jenkins

Cons: T.Williams (3)

Pens: T.Williams

Drop Goals:

Team: 15. T.Williams, 14. Carrow, 13. Jarvis, 12. R.Williams, 11. Archer, 10. L.Williams, 9. Ryburuk, 1. Newton, 2. McNeillie, 3. Glanville, 4. Gingell, 5. Coles, 6. M.Brown, 7. Finlayson, 8. Lees. Reps Unused: O'Connor, Jennings