Pethy grind out another important victory
When they arrived at a rain-lashed Crewkerne on Saturday afternoon, North Petherton's players knew that they would be in for a tough afternoon, and so it proved against a side who had turned over league leaders Burnham in their last home match. However, despite an error-strewn performance in poor conditions, Pethy ground out the win they needed to keep hold of second place in the league. Thanks to another solid defensive effort, Crewkerne rarely threatened the Pethy try-line, and Pethy produced two clinical periods of play in the middle of each half to force a penalty try and send over centre Rob Havill for the decisive scores. Read the match report here.
In other results in Somerset 1, league leaders Burnham-On-Sea sealed promotion and all but ended the promotion hopes of fourth placed Wiveliscombe with a comfortable home victory. Third placed Nailsea made no mistake at home against Imperial to ensure that Pethy cannot slip up in their last two matches. All of the weekends results can be seen below.
Tribute Somerset 1 Results - Saturday 29th March 2008
Bristol Barbarians 19 - 14 Broad Plain
Burnham on Sea 27 - 0 Wiveliscombe
Combe Down 65 - 0 Martock
Crewkerne 3 - 12 North Petherton
Nailsea & Backwell 35 - 0 Imperial
Old Culverhaysians 30 - 7 Keynsham IIThere are now two rounds of matches to go. Nailsea still have a far superior points difference to Pethy, but remain 2 points behind in the league. Wivvey are not yet mathematically out of it, although Pethy and Nailsea would have to lose both of their remaining matches for them to grab second place. The table below shows the run-in for the top four sides: -
Pethy Seconds were unfortunate to come up against a strengthened Chard Thirds who were able to field several Second Team players in their side when their match was cancelled. Pethy competed well throughout but struggled to contain the excellent play of the big Chard centre, who dominated the match for the home side.
This defeat has seen the Seconds slip to fourth in Somerset Three South, although they are still level on points with Castle Cary, who enjoyed a great win over leaders Taunton Thirds, who will now finish as league winners despite this defeat. Wiveliscombe also secured second place in the league with a comfortable win over Wellington. With two home matches remaining for the Seconds, they still have a good chance of finishing third this season, which would represent a significant improvement from last year. All of the results can be seen below.
Tribute Somerset 3 South Results - Saturday 29th March 2008
Burnham on S II HWO Wells III
Castle Cary 30 - 7 Taunton III
Chard III 24 - 8 North Petherton II
Crewkerne II 5 - 74 Minehead Barbarians III
Midsomer Norton IV HWO Hornets III
Wiveliscombe II 32 - 5 Wellington IIIThe league program now takes another break this coming weekend, and there are currently no plans to find a first team fixture with several players still carrying injuries at this important stage of the season. The Firsts and Seconds will both be at home on Saturday 12th of April for the ex-players reunion day. The Firsts will be taking on league leaders and local rivals Burnham-On-Sea, whilst the Seconds will be facing Hornets Thirds.
The Colts are the only Petherton side in action this coming weekend when they travel to Bridgwater & Albion. Kick-off is at 2:30pm.