Pethy secure second place with great win over the league winners

04/04/09 - Tribute Somerset Premier: North Petherton 23 v 15 Burnham-On-Sea

Report by Lloyd Williams

This was a massive match for Pethy, a must win game, the atmosphere was intensified by the large crowd of supporters, many of which were attending the Pethy players reunion. Hopefully the home supporters were entertained by a match in which Pethy played with aggression and showed great team effort.

Pethy who were playing up the slope, started the stronger and within 10mins had scored a well taken try by Sam Williams, converted by Tom Williams. Almost straight away Tom Williams slotted a penalty from wide out to the right. Pethy seem to be in total control, dominating up front, maintaining possession and attacking in mass numbers.

Burnham’s first try came against the run off play, Pethy were attacking well and there was a knock on and Burnham counter attacked, several last ditch tackles flew in, but eventually the Burnham winger crashed over in the corner, it was unconverted. In the contact that lead to the try, Ben Harvey was injured, bringing on Powerhouse Mike Coles.

The game opened up and Pethy found themselves without the ball for long periods. The defence seemed to be working well, Burnham’s 10 was playing a kicking game and was often pinning Pethy back deep in their own 22m. Burnham’s 2nd try was a complete breakdown in defence allowing the Burnham centre to run back through the lineout and crash his way down the touch line to score in the corner. Stern words were mentioned in the huddle and Pethy did their best to get the game back under control.

Pethy took control first and as a result scored first. Bradley Archer finished off a great team try, after the forwards had battled well and turned over the ball deep in their own half, Tom Williams smashed the ball downfield. The chase was on and Lloyd Williams tackled the first Burnham player as they tried to clear their lines, quick to his feet and turned over the ball, the rest of the Pethy team were quickly on hand and the ball shot across the field through a mixture forwards and backs, and Bradley hit the final pass at pace and went on to score, the conversion seemed to be good, but the flags stayed down. Pethy seemed to be into total control, having more of the possession and territory. They only went backwards after conceding the odd needless penalty and the constant barrage of kicks by the Burnham 10.

Pethy’s next try was again another team effort, after gaining good territory from a penalty kick and a good forward rolling maul, then followed a constant stream of close range attacks around the breakdowns, by both backs and forwards, eventually the ball was crashed over by Matt Brown for the score, again the conversion just missed.

Two minutes after Archer’s try Mike Taylor was binned for apparently leading with the elbow in a tackle. This brought on Pethy’s best spell of the game and most of it was without the ball, the tackles flew in from all the Pethy players. They began to turnover nearly ever contact through getting to their feet first and counter rucking at any opportunity.

With just under 10 minutes to go, Burnham scored a try to make things interesting again. A cross field kick, of which the bounce caused Sam Tozer trouble, he was able to gather cleanly, and the chasing wingers collected and scored, the conversion was missed. As a result of the tangle of players Tozer was taken off with a damaged leg, which seemed bad at first, but after a visit to the hospital was given the all clear.

In the last few minutes of the game Pethy had several penalty attempts at goal, Tom Williams was successful with one, which extended the lead to 8 points.

In the last play of the game Ben Tarr made an excellent break from half way, he then unselfishly passed to Harley Brown deep in the opposition 22m, he set up quick ball, and with a massive overlap the ball was unfortunately knocked on as it went alone the line.

Everyone had a good game and did they job on the pitch. Mike Taylor was a constant menace all afternoon and forwards worked well as a unit, dominating most of the scrums and lineouts.

Pethy are now confirmed 2nd, with Tor losing to Chew Valley, meaning there is now a 4 point gap with only one match to play.

Pethy play Taunton 2nds this Good Friday and will be looking to give those who have been on the fringes on the 1st team a real chance to play.

HT: 10-10

Tries: S.Williams, Archer, Brown

Cons: T.Williams

Pens: T.Williams (2)

Drop Goals:

Team: 15. Tozer (Rep. Adams, 70), 14. B.Williams, 13. T.Williams, 12. Havill, 11. Archer, 10. L.Williams, 9. Lennox, 1. Kingston, 2. S.Williams, 3. H.Brown, 4. Gingell, 5. Harvey (Rep. Coles, 30), 6. M.Brown, 7. Taylor, 8. Tarr. Rep Unused: Wolfe