The visitors arrived on a high after they inflicted the first defeat of the season on Somerset One leaders Nailsea the weekend before. Playing up the slope into a slight head wind, Pethy got off to a good start, and quickly moved up the field. Forwards were producing quick ball to the backs and they looked dangerous, with several breaks being made early on but the try never came.

The visitors quickly got into a pattern of play that suited them best, which was rolling mauls from the forwards and kicking behind the wingers when the ball went to their backline. With all the possession and territory for the first 20 minutes, Pethy only had one Tom Williams penalty to show for it after an infringement at a scrum on the Bristol 22. During this period of play Mike Coles had a reoccurrence of a shoulder injury and had to be replaced by prop John Webber, as for the second week running the other second row Ben Harvey was unavailable. To make matters worse Harley Brown also injured a shoulder and was unable to prop. This meant a big shake up in the pack with Harley Brown moving to the flanks, James Lees moving up to second row and Matt Brown going to eight. This disruption cost Pethy and the control and momentum they had established was lost.

On 22 minutes Pethy centre Russ Williams was sin binned for use of the boot, and the resulting penalty kick to the corner gave the visitors an opportunity to use their forward strength, and they quickly drove over for an unconverted try. The rest of the half became a stop start affair, with both sides conceding penalties all round the pitch. As Russ Williams returned to the pitch, Tom Williams slotted over another wide out penalty for Pethy to retake the lead. Pethy went into the break frustrated at how they had begun to play the Bristol side at their own game, instead of the wide game that had looked more promising in opening period of the match.

The second half was a continuation of the first, stop start, and neither side looked like scoring. Pethy struggled to put the phases together because they could not keep the ball, either losing it through unforced errors, or by getting isolated and turned over, or by letting the visitors kill the ball at the breakdown.

Midway through the second half just as Pethy started to get some momentum, the visitor’s second row was sin binned for a dangerous high tackle on Rob Havill who was on a weaving run. Tom Williams slotted the resulting penalty. This should have given the pack the upper hand, but the reverse happened and Pethy lost several scrums against the head. This gave the visitors possession and field position, and after a chip which was not collected first time and was knocked backwards closer to the Pethy line, winger Ben Williams was penalised for not getting back to his feet. The visitors lined up for a penalty move 5 meters from the Pethy line, but instead threw a long pass to their captain and prop out near the touchline. Several players made the tackle but were too high and he dragged them over to score in the corner. It was unconverted but Pethy were now behind 9-10.

Shortly after the second row returned, the visitor’s wing tripped Tom Williams returning a clearance kick and was lucky to not be carded. As the visitors began to try anything to stop Pethy playing, the penalties increased and as Kev Rybaruk took a quick tap he was brought down by the visitors prop, who was yellow carded as a result.

With Pethy finally beginning the attack in the backs, the visitors started to put pressure on the backline, straying off side continuously. Tom Williams narrowly missed an attempt on goal from one penalty offence, but Pethy were awarded another shortly after, and this time in front of the posts Tom successfully kicked it.

Having nudged in front during the last 10 minutes, a few minutes before the whistle Pethy scored a well worked try, which started from a scrum on the Barbarians 22. Matt Brown and Ben Williams linked well, but were stopped on the gain line, although the ball was spread wide quickly where a well timed pass from Lloyd Williams found Rob Havill hitting a gap at pace. He was just tackled but off-loaded to fellow centre Russ Williams who showed his strength to offload again whilst being tackled to speed man Steve Ladd who came flying off his wing, and who burst through to score under the posts. Tom Williams converted to seal the win.

Too many turnovers, unusual silly mistakes and wrong decisions cost Pethy dearly, not letting them get any control of the game. In the second half the visitors increased their efforts in stopping or slowing the ball from reaching the backs. All were very frustrated in playing into the visitor’s hands, but it was a vital win.

Pethy have a hard run now with two cup games, one on Saturday away to Southmead, and the other next Tuesday, at home to Tor. After that they have local derbies away at Wiveliscome and Burnham, games that will directly affect any hopes of promotion this season. As a result of this fixture pile-up, the mid week game against the Bridgwater Development side has been postponed.

H/T: 6-5

Tries: Ladd

Cons: T.Williams

Pens: T.Williams (4)

Drop Goals:

Team: 15. T.Williams, 14. B.Williams, 13. Havill, 12. R.Williams, 11. Wand (Rep. Ladd, 50), 10. L.Williams, 9. Rybaruk, 1. H.Brown, 2. Glanville, 3. Kingston, 4. Coles (Rep. Webber, 20), 5. Gingell, 6. M.Brown, 7. Robinson, 8. Lees. Rep Unused: Pocock