North Petherton in Guernsey - 9th to 12th May 2008
North Petherton's tour shirts were kindly sponsored by
For more photos please click on the links below: - NPRFC on tour - Part 1 A group of nearly 50 players and club members, including the re-painted Billy No-Mates, went on this season's tour to Guernsey, which turned out to be another hugely enjoyable weekend away for those who went. Based near the main St. Peter Port area, the tour party arrived on Liberation Day in Guernsey and eventually made their way to the port after several stops for refreshments along the way. Over the weekend Pethy were narrowly beaten in two tour matches. In gloriously sunny conditions on the Saturday, they faced what appeared at first to be a somewhat weakened Guernsey team, who only turned up with 13 players. Pethy players Nick Pocock and Matt Bussell guested for the home team to make it 15-a-side, although with Guernsey having no forwards other than Pocock, scrums went un-contested. As a result, Pethy were unable to make their superior forward strength count, as the speed and excellent handling of the all Guernsey team made for a high-tempo game which Petherton struggled to contend with. During the first-half Pethy quickly fell behind as some great play by Guernsey saw them score two tries. However, once Pethy were able to get their hands on the ball and make use of their much stronger pack, they soon found themselves breaking into space, and a period of sustained pressure ended with winger Chris Powell, who had an outstanding match, finishing off a good handling move near the posts. Not surprisingly, given the heat and rather hungover state of all the visiting player’s, Petherton’s usual intensity was missing from their play, and mistakes and missed tackles were severely punished by the speedy Guernsey backs to score two further tries. Pethy again responded, this time through a typically barnstorming run and finish by lock Wayne Pither from the 22 metre line. At half-time Pethy made some changes, including moving centre Sam Williams to hooker and bringing on Second Team Captain Larry Steward at No.8. Steward scored almost immediately from the re-start, putting the ball down over the line after an impressive 25 metre driving maul from a lineout, to bring Pethy to within a try of the home team. Eventually though, the superior speed and fitness of the home side saw them score two more tries near the end of game, both from interceptions and quick turnovers as Pethy threw the ball around trying to force a try. Unfortunately towards the end of the match centre Dan Steward broke two fingers whilst being tackled to round off a disappointing game for the visitors. After the match the traditional 'Virgin Run' was held out on the pitch for all of the first-time tourists in the party, of which there were ten this year. Judge Gary 'Rocker' Coles then held court in the bar where a long and exhausting list of crimes were read out and all offenders were unsurprisingly found guilty.
On the Sunday, Pethy returned to Guernsey’s ground to play St .Jacques, a side captained by former Petherton player Tim Pond who moved to the island a couple of years ago. This was a much more evenly contested match. The game was refereed by the St .Jacques club chairman, and this resulted in some questionable refereeing at times, as well as some outright mistakes, as St .Jacques scored at least two tries from forward passes and from blatant infringements at the breakdown. This helped raise the intensity of the game above what would normally be expected of a friendly tour match, and Pethy were denied what would have been a winning try by Mike Coles when he was adjudged to have put his foot in touch despite being comfortably inside the line. However, this was a much better performance from Petherton in what was still an entertaining and high-scoring game. They scored several tries through Mike Coles (2), Matt Brown, Wayne Pither and I can’t remember the rest! (please email me if you can remember who scored). Mike Coles was, as he has often been described over the last couple of seasons, colossal for Pethy throughout, in what were once again sweltering conditions. After the match Pethy were entertained back at the St.Jacques clubhouse with an afternoon barbecue where fines were again handed out to what eventually must have been everyone in the bar. Tim Pond was unsurprisingly found guilty several times, most notably for the heinous crimes of playing for the opposition and then scoring for the opposition. After an enjoyable afternoon the tourists returned to their hotel and then to St. Peter Port for some Karaoke. |
