Petherton do enough to maintain their interest in the promotion race

24/01/09 - Tribute Somerset Premier: North Petherton 31 v 16 Avon

Report by Simon Gingell

Our first league action of 2009 saw Pethy take on Avon. A tough match was expected as the away fixture was a true war of attrition in the mud. Pethy knew that a good start was important and from the kick off Pethy regained the ball and won a penalty. This was missed by the usually perfect Tom Williams but it set up Pethy for a spell of pressure which eventually saw player coach Matt Foad make a great break which meant he had to beat several defenders to go over for a try in the corner.

Really at this point Pethy should have kicked on but they let Avon back into the game with a soft break away converted try. A dog legged defensive line and a couple of poor missed tackles let Avon run the ball out of their own 22 and race clear to score under the posts. Pethy continued to have lots of possession in the oppositions half but a touch of white line fever and lack of runners on shoulders cost them further tries. What kept Pethy in front was the reliable boot of Tom Williams, stroking over two penalties to Avon getting one to leave the half time score at 11-10 to the hosts.

The riot act was read at half time by John Evans and this seamed to have the desired effect, eventually the second half didn’t start well as Avon scored a try to really make Pethy think about what was said at half time. It wasn't until the last 25 minutes that Pethy used its dominance in the scrum to gain a platform and some great breaks from backs and smart handling from backs and forwards saw Pethy score 2 more tries, the first through skipper Lloyd Williams, the forwards had a powerful 5m scrum, which was just stopped short, the ball was feed out and Williams sold a outrageous dummy and jinked under the posts from 10m out. With 20mins remaining Sam Hoare, collected a neat chip through, and scored a well deserved try that came from many phases of play which involved most of the team. These tries were added to with 2 conversions and 2 further penalties from Tom Williams.

This seemed to kill off Avon and further scoring chances were hard to come by. Bradley Archer, who had come on for the injured Ben Williams, seemed to add a bit of spark to the team and looked dangerous with the ball, he went on one crowd cheering run from his own 22m to within 15m of the opposition posts, rounding his man for pace and then beating several other defenders, were he unselfishly passed to Ben Tarr, who was just tackled before the line.

Avon didn't lie down and give up and they scored a late penalty and almost crossed at the death for a try but Pethy defended manfully.

The forwards all had a good game, they were dominate in the scrum and made it hard work for the visitors to get clean ball. Ben Harvey on his return to the first team went on some powerful runs and the front row of Harley Brown, Sam Williams and Matt Angel were outstanding in defence and bullish with ball in hand.

The backs looked dangerous. Rob Havill on the wing had some surging run in the first half and was unlucky not to score, Sam Hoare is being to fit into the team and proving a useful pivot in mid field release those around him into space and solid when taking the ball into contacts and Tom Williams put in some huge tackles as well as being dependable with the boot.

This game was a banana skin in terms of our push for promotion and it was with relief the final whistle went to give Pethy a well earned victory. Every game is a cup final now so an 80 minute performance like the last half hour is needed in every game.

HT: 11-10

Tries: Foad, Lloyd Williams, Hoare

Cons: T.Williams (2)

Pens: T.Williams (4)

Drop Goals:

Team: 15. T.Williams, 14. B.Williams (Rep. Archer, 50), 13. Hoare, 12. Foad, 11. Havill), 10. Lloyd Williams, 9. Rybaruk, 1. Angel, 2. S.Williams, 3.H.Brown, 4. Gingell (Rep. Tarr. 70), 5. B.Harvey (Rep. Coles, 55), 6.M.Brown, 7. Taylor, 8. Lees.