Forward power too much for Burnham

11/10/08 - Tribute Somerset Three South: North Petherton II 48 v 3 Burnham-On-Sea II

Report by Lloyd Steward

With powerhouse Mike Coles appointed skipper for the day after Larry Steward stepped down during the week, Pethy knew they needed to achieve back-to-back wins to keep their promotion dreams alive.

Right from the starting whistle Pethy were rampant and scored their first try inside the opening minutes with Bradley Archer grounding a cute chip over the Burnham defence. It was not long before Archer was at it again when Kev Rybaruk drew his man excellently and passed to Bradley, who used his blistering pace to score in the corner.

Next it was the turn of the forwards to get involved with Larry Steward at the forefront as usual, and he smashed his way through the Burnham defence to score under the posts. Coles and Steward were simply too much for Burnham who struggled to match their brute strength and force, and it was not long before Coles also powered over under the posts to complete a dominant first half for Pethy as they led 24-3 at the break.

It was important for the hosts to start the second half as they had ended the first, and they did just that when Bradley Archer soon raced over to complete his hat trick. Pethy started to open up and play some excellent rugby, and both Lloyd Steward and Dan Rood were unlucky not score certain tries when the referee called them back for questionable forward passes.

Pethy were not finished though, and on the hour mark flanker Adie Harris crossed the line to score his first try for the club, which was greeted by the largest cheer of the day for a popular player who has been instrumental in the second team's improvement over the last year.

Shortly after that, colt Jamie Adams finished a superb break from Chris Powell to score his first try of the season, and the final score of the game came from Larry Steward who deftly chipped the ball over the top of the defence to ground his second try of the game.

This result has kept Pethy in the promotion hunt and there is now only 2 points between them and the top 5 teams in the league.

H/T: 24-3

Tries: Bradley Archer (3), Larry Steward (2), Coles, Harris, Adams

Cons: Lloyd Steward (4)

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