Pethy climb into second place after victory over promotion rivals Tor

28/02/09 - Tribute Somerset Premier: Tor 10 v 12 North Petherton

Report by Lloyd Williams

As this was meant to be a free weekend, therefore many Pethy players across the board were unavailable. 1st team wise, it was mainly backs out, Rob Havill, Ben Williams and Gavin Wolfe, and other stand in players such as Sam Hoare and Adam Harvey were also unavailable. This meant the call ups for returning Miles McNeillie and Josh Perrin, Miles normally a hooker or flanker, who has had little game time since his return from traveling and Josh who has only played once since late October. This also meant a well deserved call up to the bench for Matt Bussell, who has had an interrupted season mainly due to injuries. The forwards however were almost unchanged, the only change was the return of Simon Gingell who pushed veteran Mike Coles to the bench. With James Lees unavailable it left Ben Tarr to jump at the front of the lineout for a second week.

Things started well for both teams, both looked to throw the ball around out wide and made early clean breaks, which only ended in knock-ons or great covering tackles. With about 10mins gone, Pethy had a great chance to score, several drives by the forwards set up quick ball for the backs and it was shipped along the line, quick hands from Sam and Russ Williams put Matt Foad into space at speed, there was a 3 on 2, Foad offloaded well to Tom Williams who drew the fullback and gave Miles McNeillie a clear run to the line, unfortunately he didn’t take the ball cleanly and knocked on. To make matter worse, somehow, Matt Foad had collided with the back of Tom Williams’ head in the tackle area and had taken a nasty knock to his eye area, he when off to the blood bin. Bringing powerhouse Adam Modrzynski on to front and moving Sam Williams into the centre. It was soon apparent that Foad would play no further part in the game and the change had to be permanent.

With this Tor cleared their lines and went on the attack for the next 20 minutes or so, Pethy defended well in most parts, understandably there were gaps in the backline with a total untried lineup and the Tor back line made several half and clean breaks, but everytime they were halted deep in Pethy territory either through great cover tackling or unforced Tor errors. Eventually a costly mistake was made, after turning over the ball close to their own try line, Pethy tried to clear their lines. Scrum half Neil Lennox, under pressure threw out a slightly high pass, and not to the man waiting to kick, the receiving player was caught unaware, missed the ball and it when lose in the in goal area. McNeillie reacted first but a wicked bounce left him flat footed and a Tor player dived on the ball, the try was unconverted. Soon after they had a penalty attempt go wide, and then the game evened out a bit.

The rest of the half Pethy put together some good attacks and gained good ground, eventually Pethy got to the Tor line, with a 5 meter lineout after Captain Williams elected to kick to the corner, several good drives set up quick ball, Sam Williams was sent up the middle and bulldozed his way nearly up to the line, seeming to be held up short, knowing the rules well, he twisted and placed the ball at the bottom of the post and the try was awarded and converted easily. The half time whistle went soon after.

At half time, with the towering Modrzynski struggling against a much shorted and experienced opposite man, Modrzynski moved to 8 and Sam Williams went back to hooker and Matt Brown, who has played the odd game at centre, moved to the backline.

The second half continued like the first, clean breaks by both teams and play moving from one end to the other. Tor began to introduce more of a kicking game, which often worked well for them in winning the territory battle.

It was Pethy who scored first, in a phase of the game where they seemed to be in control. After a penalty attempt that hit the post, Pethy regained the ball and a well worked move off a solid scrum, saw Tom Williams score in the corner which he couldn’t convert.

The rest of the game was very open, lots of last ditch tackles, Tom Williams in particular. Tor had the territory and possession for most of the time. With 15 mins to go Tor scored a soft try down the blind after a scrum was wheeled, not allowing the flankers to get close and they broke blind with an overlap, luckily it was unconverted.

This made for a frantic 15 mins, Pethy did get deep into the Tor half on brief occasions, mainly through a good kicking game or running the ball back from Tor kicks, but they came away empty handed. Pethy withstood everything that was thrown at them. Right at the end just as Tor got close to the Pethy line, but several Pethy players made curial tackles and stole the ball by getting to their feet first. Pethy held out for a 10 – 12 win.

Overall the Pethy pack was rampant in attack and defence. Ben Tarr had a great game, especially in defence and disrupted a large amount of Tor possession, unfortunately he was often harshly pulled up for infringements on a scrum which was regularly under huge pressure especially in the first half. All the forwards played out of their skins, even when they had to become backs for the afternoon.

The backs held their own for most of the time, it was the odd mix up in communication that allowed the Tor backline through. They did look dangerous in attack before the injury, but struggled to get the ball wide quickly after that. Tom Williams made some huge hits to halt Tor attackers and organized the makeshift backline well.

Pethy move 2nd in the table 2 points clear of Tor. Wells this week, hopefully a good turn out at training will make the fight for positions interesting.

HT: 5-7

Tries: S.Williams, T.Williams

Cons: T.Williams

Pens:

Drop Goals:

Team: 15. T.Williams, 14. Perrin, 13. Foad (Rep. Modrzynski, 10), 12. R.Williams, 11. McNeillie, 10. Lloyd Williams, 9. Lennox, 1. Angel, 2. S.Williams, 3. H.Brown, 4. Harvey (Rep. Coles, 60), 5. Gingell, 6. Tarr, 7. Taylor, 8. M.Brown. Rep Not Used: Bussell.