Great result at Tor lifts Pethy into second place

North Petherton won their biggest match of the season so far away at Tor on Saturday, and in the process took second place from their hosts in the Somerset Premier Division. As it was when the sides met in November, this was another tight and hard fought encounter, and Pethy again won by the narrowest of margins thanks to tries by Sam and Tom Williams, and some outstanding defence, as they held on for a 12-10 victory.

Pethy had to overcome the loss of centre Matt Foad in the first 10 minutes, whose place in the centre was taken firstly by hooker Sam Williams, and then in the second half by back rower Matt Brown. With several players missing, cover in the backs was already short and it took a massive effort by the Petherton forwards in attack and defence to provide the platform for an important victory. Read the match report here.

In other results, Burnham remained top of the table with a win over bottom side Old Sulians. Winscombe pulled off the biggest result of the day by thrashing Bristol Harlequins and a comprehensive win by Wells gives them hope of avoiding relegation this season. All of the weekend’s results can be seen below.

Tribute Somerset Premier Results - Saturday 28th February 2009

Avon 3 - 20 Stothert & Pitt
Old Sulians 7 - 16 Burnham on Sea
Tor 10 - 12 North Petherton
Wells 25 - 0 Chew Valley
Winscombe 42 - 3 Bristol Harlequins

North Petherton Seconds were reduced to just 15 available players for their trip to Somerset Three South leaders Weston Thirds, and with several regulars missing this made what was always going to be a tough match even more difficult. Perhaps unsurprisingly they did not start the match well and found themselves 33-nil down after half an hour before a try by Wayne Pither finally brought them to life.

Having taken 40 minutes to get going, Pethy were able to take some positives from a determined second-half performance in which they outscored their hosts thanks to an excellent break away try by winger Lloyd Steward. However, overall they were outclassed by a Weston side that showed why they have been league leaders since the start of the season. Read the match report here.

Wells Thirds finally dropped out of the league last week having failed to fulfil half of their fixtures this season due to not having enough players. With Hornets Thirds dropping out earlier in the season, the league has now been reduced to 11 teams with all of Wells’ results removed. This means that Pethy seconds now have 7 wins from 14 matches and remain in 7th place, although it has brought them closer to some of the teams above them in the table with 6 matches still to play. All of the weekend’s results can be seen below.

Tribute Somerset Three South Results - Saturday 28th February 2009

Burnham on S II 45 - 27 Wellington III
Castle Cary 22 - 7 Chard III
Morganians 41 - 0 Winscombe III
Weston-s-Mare III 45 - 12 North Petherton II
Wiveliscombe II 39 - 8 Minehead Barbarians III

This coming weekend both the First and Second teams are at home. The Firsts entertain Wells, a side whose recent results indicate that they will be difficult to beat despite being second bottom in the league. The second team face a local derby against their counterparts from Wiveliscombe. The Thirds will be on the road visiting Welsh side Magor. All matches kick-off at 2:30pm.

On Sunday afternoon at Beggars Brook North Petherton Colts will be in action in their Somerset Cup quarter-final match against Avonvale. This promises to be a tough match for Pethy against a side who have recently beaten Bath and Bristol colts. Kick-off is at 2:00pm.