28/11/09 - Friendly: North Petherton III 73 v 5 Burnham on Sea III

Report by Cameron Kirk

Although Burnham arrived short for this fixture, in true third team spirit Petherton lent them a player and the remainder were made up of players from Morganians. Without a recognised prop again, all-rounders Time Pike and Clarence Clatworthy stepped up to share the duties. Petherton had the luxury of two talented players on the bench in Chris Powell and Dave Hill. Both had been encouraged to come out of their semi-retirements by Cameron Kirk.

Petherton started the game brightly and the game became an open encounter from the first whistle. With the Pearn brothers making inroads through the centres and Phil “the hand-off” Hambly having a powerful game at number eight the first score was inevitable. However could Petherton get it?? The “knock-on and forward pass” count rose into double figures and despite their best efforts Petherton continued to be their own worst enemies. After 15 mins Petherton lost their scrum-half and it was then that the game changed. The introduction of Chris Powell into the centre seemed to be the spark that they were looking for. Despite this being his first outing of the season his angles of running caused problems for Burnham’s defence for the rest of the game.

The first half saw two scores from Chris, two from winger Levi Crocker, one from full-back Craig Palmer and one from hooker Jason Collard.

The second half saw more of the same as Petherton attacked continually. Dave Hill, also on his first outing of the season, had now been introduced at full back and he crossed for two tries. Craig Palmer completed his hat-trick and flanker Kev Gray scored a stunner when he finished from just inside the halfway line (despite looking to offload it on several occasions). Cameron Kirk converted nine in total.

Although Petherton probably made a season of mistakes in one game the positives were still there, they stuck at it and that has to be commended. Chris Powell had a great game and was man of the match.

Team: Clarence Clatworthy, Jason Collard, Gav James, Tony Crocker, Andy Prowse, Kev Gray, Phil Hambly, Tim Pike, Daniel, Cameron Kirk, Stuart Pearn, Graham Pearn, Levi Crocker, Matt Rose, Craig Palmer, Chris Powell, Dave Hill.