14/11/09 - Tribute Somerset Two South: North Petherton II 71 v 0 Crewkerne

Report by Ben Williams

Somerset Two South.
14 November 2009.
North Petherton 2nd XV 71 v Crewkerne 0.

Petherton 2’s welcomed fifth placed Crewkerne to Beggars Brook expecting another tough game in a so far topsy turvey season. However Petherton fielded one of their strongest backlines for many a year with all bar one having played first team rugby, this included former Bath and Bridgwater centre Andy Webber.

The game started in what can only be described as gale force winds and with electing to play up the slope for the first period after winning the toss Pethy were in for a tough first 40 minutes. Crewkerne started strongly using their larger forwards to make inroads into Pethertons territory, but their handling let them down on numerous occasions throughout the match. They dominated the scrums to start off with but credit to Pethys pack they secured most of their own ball, whilst being pushed backwards by Crewkerne. From the resulting scrum Petherton's backline moved the ball right from their own half and with the overlap Russell Potter put captain Ben Williams into space for him to run in from the half way for the first try in the opening 5 minutes, Roberts kicked the resulting conversion. This was the theme for the rest of the match with Petherton using their superior backline to run tries in from Russell Potter, scrum half Karl Jarvis and full back Rob Havill, fly half Harry Roberts kicked all the conversions giving them a 28-0 lead at half time and if it wasn’t for some basic handling errors there could have been four more tries in the first half !

The second half started in the same vein with Pethys backline tormenting Crewkerne with some strong running and good handling in difficult conditions. Havill opened the scoring in the second half with Sam Tozer quickly adding another. Petherton then made substitutions giving senior debuts to colts Cody Dehume at prop and Connor Potter at second row, both played well which stands the club in good stead for the future. Substitute Steve Potter scored with his first touch on the right wing after replacing captain Williams with another sub Lee Palmer scoring on the other wing shortly after, both ended up with two a piece with vice captain Miles McNellie completed the scoring after a great break by Dehume through the centre of Crewkernes pack. Roberts kicked all bar two of his conversions in difficult conditions, which resulted in a final score line of 71-0. Credit should go to centre Webber who was instrumental in setting up most of Pethertons tries with some selfless play to let others run in the tries.

If Petherton could keep a consistent side, they surely would be nearer the top of the pile instead of their current position, but with a long way to go in the season they can still secure a top four finish.