Pethy frustrated after a hard fought draw

19/09/09 - Tribute Western Counties West: North Petherton 15 v 15 Tavistock

Report by Simon Gingell

It was back on home soil for a Pethy side chastened after last weeks defeat down at Penryn. Tavistock were the opponents at beggars brook. The pre match team talk spoke of starting quickly and getting on top early. This was not to be the case as early on Tavistock scored a after a penalty attempt hit the post and was uncleanly dealt with, a mistake when clearing the lines led to a soft try.

Pethy soon got back into the game and regained possession and after a spell of pressure, in which Pethy saw a penalty attempt go wide, the home side scored a good team try finished by Chris Burge. After this the game became a close run affair, both side turning over the ball and both conceding to many penalties.

The visitors had several penalty attempts on goal and eventually landed one, to make matters worse Pethy lost the pit bull that is mike Taylor through a blood injury which forced him off to get stitches. Tom Williams came on as a substitute and he took over his normal kicking duties.

After a messy period of play Pethy changed their game plan to keep the ball tighter in with the forwards. Pick and drives were the order for the rest of the half while they regrouped. This change worked close to half time as Pethy won a penalty try after scrumming the Tavistock pack into submission. Tom Williams Converted

Tavistock must have been read the riot act at half time as they were the first to score with a converted try. A line break and side step of the full back led to a simple trot under the posts.15-12 to the away team.

This was to remain the score until the last 8 minutes when Pethy were awarded a penalty. Pressure time for tom Williams, He stroked it over and the crowd erupted. 15-15. Game on! Pethy pushed for all they were worth. Time and again the referee came to the aid of Tavistock with his own ideas on the break down area, harsh on Pethy, lenient on Tavistock. Every attack seemed to be stopped with the whistle going to frustrate.

Pethy had the majority of the possession, and even though there were too many handling errors, the Pethy pack often regained the ball at most scrums, however to frustrate things further, as dynamic prop Kyle Prescott arrived as a substitute, the scrums went uncontested as the visitors ran out of front row, after Pethy front 5 had caused the them all sorts of problems all afternoon.

With 3 mins of the game left, Pethy drove the ball forward and gained a penalty right on half way but with a stiff breeze Tom Williams gave the ball every chance but it ran out of legs and dropped short. After a good turn over Pethy had a scrum in an ideal position, with what they thought was enough time for one last attack, but the final whistle went.

A draw was a point lost but in terms of performance it was an improvement from the Penryn game, but still nothing to match that of two weeks ago. On a summer day like today, the effort shown was immense. With just a bit more cohesion between forwards and backs Pethy would have won this game. Points are the next aim from our travels to Tiverton next week.

HT: 12-8

Tries: C.Burge, Penalty Try

Cons: T.Williams

Pens: T.Williams

Drop Goals:

Team: 15. Hallaran, 14. C.Burge, 13. Carter, 12. Webber, 11. Goodwin, 10. L.Williams (Rep. Tracey, 60), 9. M.Ranson, 1. Angel, 2. S.Williams, 3. H.Brown (Rep. Prescott, 70), 4. Gingell, 5. Modrzynski, 6. McNeillie, 7. Taylor (Rep. T.Williams, 30), 8. Lees.