12th February 2011 - Tribute Somerset 3 South:

North Petherton III 20 v 0 Bridgwater & Albion III

Report by Simon Freeman

In a typical local derby both teams attempted to play open rugby and entertain an enthusiastic crowd who chose to support local rugby as opposed to England V Italy. Petherton, clearly determined to start livelier than they have in previous weeks used their hard running forwards to try and break down Albion’s defence, which was well marshalled by 1st team hooker Matt Hastie. On six minutes Wayne Pither showed his power and potential to cruise over from 30 metres after running through two would be tacklers and around the full back and score near the posts for Sutherland-Earl to convert. The game remained mainly in midfield with neither team able to build enough phases to break down their opponents.
On 30 minutes Petherton produced a moment of high quality as the ball was shipped across the park with all the backs involved giving Jim Dudrige a one on one chance which he skilfully excepted to dot down under the posts for Sutherland- Earl to convert.
The second half began with Albion on the attack but strong tackling from Wolfe nullified these plays and gave Pethy opportunities to run back at them. Both teams came close to scoring and only desperate defensive prevented the score changing.
In the last ten minutes and with Albion attacking from anywhere on the pitch, they were forced to concede two penalties in front of their posts which Sutherland-Earl kicked to finish the scoring give Pethy valuable points.