Pethy knocked out of the Somerset Cup in the First Round

22/11/09 - Somerset Cup Round 1: Taunton 24 v 3 North Petherton

Report by Lloyd Williams

On a soggy pitch, with an on and off wind, combined with rainy showers, it made for a game that was never going to be open flowing rugby. Pethy were facing a tough test, a Taunton side with a large contingency of regular first team players, with the rest made up of those normally on the bench or who had been in and out of the first team squad. Playing against the elements, it was certainly not the semi-professional outfit that were controlling the game. Pethy started with a bang, they had possession and territory from the start and found themselves attacking in numbers and aggression mainly down the blind. Taunton managed to clear their half a couple of times, but Pethy’s forward drives and some good kicking got the territory back.

When the forwards set up quick clean ball after a couple of powerful runs, James Carter found Lloyd Williams with a long pass, he broke through the defence and continued the attack deep into the visitor 22m, it was only frantic cover from the home side, that well tackled the support runner and eventually Pethy were turned over and the home side cleared their lines.

At about 15mins in, this brought the end of Pethy’s explosive start in terms of dominance in possession and territory. The rest of the first half the home side had the majority of possession and field position. However what did happen was that Pethy put everything they had into an aggression defence.

This solid defence by both backs and forwards kept the home side out in terms of trys, but Taunton’s first team kicker kept the score line ticking over with 4 easy penalties. Pethy were struggling with certain areas of the breakdown and felt unlucky to be conceding so many penalties, but generally the forwards were soaking up everything the larger Taunton pack were throwing at them.

Unfortunately reliable kicker Tom Williams missed an easy kick just before half time, leaving the score 12 – 0 to the home side.

Pethy now using the elements started well and soon Tom Williams was given an easy penalty attempt which he took, to get Pethy on the score sheet.

With a big league game the following week it was always Pethy’s intention to use the whole of the bench, which they did gradually throughout the second half. Slightly earlier than intended in for second row James Cox when he took a knock, this brought on Simon Gingell, who with fresh legs and a point to prove, got stuck in and made a menace of himself to the final whistle.

Pethy continued their aggressive defence and commitment to hitting rucks and carrying the ball into contact at full tilt. Tom Williams had a long range penalty that just fell short, a couple of half breaks could have resulted in a score but passes didn’t go to hand or eventually the attack just ran out of players.

Pethy’s luck didn’t change when they were attacking well and Lloyd Williams sent through a neat little chip to the corner, the home fullback dived on the ball before his goal line and carried it over, a 5 meter scrum with a pack that was causing the home team difficulty was a massive scoring chance, but to the surprise of all, a 22m was awarded. Just after this Carter was replaced by powerhouse Sam Harding. Shortly after things went from bad to worse when Captain Williams was unable to take the ball cleanly, knocked on and it fell into the hands of the defence, Taunton countered quickly catching Pethy flat footed, eventually the wing was off towards the line. Even with Ben Tracey closing the player down, it turned out to be a soft try against the run of play.

Pethy soon had another opportunity to score as the forwards had a five meter scrum, followed by several drives around the fringes, unfortunately they conceded a penalty inches from the line.

With minutes left Taunton again turned the ball over against the run of play, catching now a much chanced backline (including veteran Russ Potter who was called up last minute) off guard, they scored another try, which was converted. 24 – 3.

All the forwards, including those than came on as replacements were outstanding, for the smallest forward on the pitch Mike Taylor was a tackling machine, he was well backed up by the rest of the pack at every contact area and as a group turned over just as much as the opposition. The backs defended well and with what good possession that got looked dangerous at times, with Craig Goodwin having a couple of good surging runs. James Carter was a linchpin in the backline in defence and attack. But as a unit they seem to be gelling together, which could be down to the fact that they are now able to keep a very similar backline from week to week.

The money from the gate was donated to the Jim Clatworthy fund, which was Pethy’s first part in fund raising, the next on the 6th December, when a Pethy XV take on the Presidents XV.

Excellent performance to take back to league rugby, this week away to Newquay.

HT: 12-0

Tries:

Cons:

Pens: T.Williams

Drop Goals:

Team: 15. T.Williams, 14. C.Burge, 13. Carter (Rep. Tracey, 55), 12. Hallaran, 11. Goodwin, 10. L.Williams, 9. M.Ranson, 1. Angel, 2. S.Williams, 3. Coles (Rep. Prescott, 70), 4. Cox, 5. Gingell, 6. Tarr (Rep. Pettingell, 70), 7. Taylor, 8. M.Brown.