Report by Matt Glanville
North Petherton Seconds regained top spot in Somerset Two with a routine victory over bottom side Martock. With Chard Seconds not playing this weekend, Pethy played their game in hand over their main rivals for promotion and made it 13 wins from 13. It was a match devoid of any intensity after the opposition turned up with only 13 players, which effectively made the match a foregone conclusion. To their credit though, Martock displayed commendable spirit to play the game anyway, with the home side eager for a run out having had their last match before Christmas postponed due to the bad weather.
The match started with a great number of mistakes by the home side as they showed plenty of rustiness following 4 weeks off. Martock also played their part in forcing early errors as the first 10 minutes of the match were dominated by a succession of scrums, which were contested despite Martock’s reduced numbers. Unsurprisingly, Pethy dominated the set-piece and soon got their act together, scoring a succession of tries out wide through winger Jamie Adams, full-back Oscar Treganna, centre Russ Potter, and Fly-half Dan Pearce.
With the space afforded to them, Pethy began to play some attractive rugby, passing well out of the tackle with some of the Petherton forwards getting on the score sheet through Lock Ben Stewart and flanker Matt Ranson, who both finished off some nice interplay between forwards and backs. Scrum-Half Dave Hallaran also added a try and Pearce 5 conversions to make the half-time score 50-0.
In the second half Pethy tried to play with some more structure with upcoming fixtures in mind, but the match became very disrupted as tiring Martock players struggled on with injuries and the match lost any sort of competitive edge. Pethy ran in further tries through Prop Matt Angel, Adams, Potter, flanker Chris Griffiths, and No.8 Simon Gingell, with Pearce adding a further 4 conversions. Whilst this was not the sort of match anyone wanted with a tough away game at third placed Crewkerne next week, Pethy were at least able to blow away a few cobwebs and take back top spot in the league having been overtaken by Chard just before the Christmas break.
Tries: Jamie Adams (3), Matt Angel (2), Oscar Treganna (2), Dan Pearce (2), Russ Potter (2), Ben Stewart, Dave Hallaran, Chris Griffiths, Matt Ranson, Simon Gingell
Cons: Dan Pearce (9)
Team:
1. Sheldon Jones
2. Shaun Cook
3. Matt Glanville
4. Ben Stewart (Rep. Matt Angel, 55)
5. Adrian Tew
6. Matt Ranson
7. Chris Griffiths
8. Simon Gingell (C)
9. Dave Hallaran
10. Dan Pearce
11. Jamie Adams
12. Ash Palmer
13. Russ Potter
14. Ben Williams
15. Oscar Treganna
Rep Unused: Simon Freeman
