12th March 2011 - Tribute Western Counties West:

North Petherton 14 v 30 Kingsbridge

Match Sponsored By: Steve Chant and the Aller Old Boys

Report by Simon Freeman

Kingsbridge made the perfect start to this much-anticipated match and deservedly won by a convincing margin. The top of the table side had the game pretty much wrapped up by the 19th minute with three unconverted tries.

Petherton went into this match with six first team squad members either injured or unavailable giving opportunities to fringe members to test themselves.

It took Petherton until the 31st minute to gain possession in their opponents half and when they did they came away with seven points. The ball was secured from a lineout and after a couple of plays the ball was shipped wide to Roberts who kicked through for winger Stevens to collect and dot down. The conversion from out wide was successful by Roberts.

In the 35th minute a defence splitting run by Matt Brown created an overlap for others and to within 15 metres of the visitors line, but a misplaced pass and the ball rolled into touch to let Kingsbridge off the hook.

Petherton started to make ground through Ranson and Cox but the organised visitors snuffed out any chance for Pethy to get their game plan in to operation.

The second half started in the worst possible way for Pethy as they conceded a penalty on their 22 directly in front of the posts. This lead to the visitors extending their lead to 18-7.

Pethy responded well and attacked Kingsbridge at every opportunity but a few dubious decisions went against them. The referee was becoming increasingly inconsistent at the breakdown, which denied Pethy many attacking platforms.

In the 65th minute Kingsbridge scored a well worked try under the posts, which was converted, but within five minutes Petherton responded with a strong drive by the forwards and forcing Pettingell over the line, which was converted by Roberts.

The final play of the game resulted in Kingsbridge scoring in the corner as the Petherton players fatigued and ultimately ran out of cover.

There were many positives taken from the game, Ben Sellick's lineout work and contribution in the loose, Mike Coles moving into the front row and giving his opposite number plenty of problems. Harry Roberts is looking accomplished at full back with his positional play and defensive clearance kicks. The team showed a good spirit but ultimately the disorganised rush defence in the first quarter forced Pethy in to catch up rugby.