Petherton win local derby

30/09/06 - Somerset One: Burnham-On-Sea 0 v 31 North Petherton

Petherton Captain James Lees secures line-out ball against Burnham supported by Harley Brown (1) and Matt Burge. From the right, Rob Newton, Simon Gingell and Steve Doyle come round to support as hooker Miles McNeillie (2) admires his throw

Report from the Bridgwater Mercury

North Petherton’s impressive young side proved too good in all departments for their local rivals at Burnham on Saturday. Although Burnham were strengthened by the home debut of their player-coach, former Tongan captain Feao Vunipola, they could not cope with the fire of the Petherton forwards.

Apart from a couple of runs by prop Vunipola and scrum-half Tim Piper, Burnham hardly threatened the Petherton line and on the rare occasions that they did look like scoring, the tackling of full-back Tom Williams never faltered.

Burnham were without new Samoan centre Riki Sila and also had other players missing. Wing Luke Carrow made his debut in place of the injured Bradley Archer, while they were also without the injured Ross Finlayson at openside flanker.

After just three minutes, Tom Williams picked up a long, bouncing pass and outpaced the cover to put the visitors ahead. Then fly-half Lloyd Williams raced through and gave centre Russell Williams a scoring pass, but he knocked on.

Petherton were doing what they liked in the scrum and skipper James Lees touched down from a pushover after ten minutes for Tom Williams to convert. Next on the scoresheet, after a heel against the head, was wing Ben Williams, who finished off some fine rucking and handling. Tom Williams converted for a 19-0 lead.

By half-time it was all over, with Petherton 26-0 ahead thanks to a try by Lloyd Williams, who beat Burnham’s Richard Welland to a grubber kick from centre Rob Havill. Again, Tom Williams added the extras.

The second-half was something of a non-event, as Petherton appeared to ease up and Burnham were able to take advantage. A series of flare-ups ended with Burnham no.8 Brian Webb being sin-binned in the 63rd minute.

Twice Vunipola nearly made the line and only a brilliant tackle by Tom Williams stopped Piper, a lone threat in Burnham’s back line. The visitors defence was just too good and Burnham conceded a fifth try in the final minutes when winger Luke Carrow dived over the line whilst collecting a pass from James Lees to mark his debut with a try.

Tries: T.Williams, Lees, B.Williams, L.Williams, Carrow

Cons: T.Williams (3)

Pens:

Drop Goals:

Team: 15. T.Williams, 14. B.Williams, 13. R.Williams, 12. Havill, 11. Carrow, 10. L.Williams (Rep. Pearn), 9. Ryburuk, 1. H.Brown (Rep. Frost), 2. McNeillie, 3. M.Burge (Rep. Glanville), 4. Gingell, 5. Newton, 6. Doyle, 7. M.Brown, 8. Lees.