Serious injury mars victory over rivals
Combe Down emerged as winners 10-7 winners after a pulsating top-of-the-table clash with local rivals Avonvale in Dorset & Wilts 1 North. Both teams were unbeaten going into the match so it was no surprise that defences of were on top. Going uphill but with a strong wind behind them, Down started the better of the two teams as the visitors got to grips with their mobile forwards and fast backs. Moving the ball around nicely in the Vale 22, Down were awarded a penalty in the 15th minute which was converted for a three-point lead. Vale were struggling against the wind and needed to run out of defence but finally they got their tails up and the forwards started to produce good ball for their speedy backs to use. Vale attacked the Combe Down line but the defence held strong. In a hard but fair contest, both teams had injury problems as they hammered away at one another. Vale lost captain and prop Hayden Rogers after a clash of heads and winger Jack Burcombe suffered a jaw injury, while Down’s influential flanker Thomas Wheatley was forced out of the action with a shoulder injury. The half ended with Vale on the Down line but they could not cross it. The second half followed in the same vein as the first, with both teams trying to break down the other. Ten minutes into the half Vale centre Drew Retford sustained a neck injury and the game was held up for an hour while the ambulance was called. When the game resumed with the floodlights on, Down who gained the advantage when a kick from the Vale 22 was charged down and the race to the line was won by the home centre. The try was converted for a 10-0 lead. Vale responded quickly when a strong carry from number eight George Hobbs was recycled and the ball moved wide for stand-in winger James Russell to show his pace. Ten yards from the Down line, he grubbered the ball along the floor and was hit late. As the ball crossed the Down try line the ball was battered away illegally and the referee awarded a penalty try. The last ten minutes produced a stalemate as Vale as Vale went in search of a winning score but just could not break down the defensive line. The final whistle went to the delight of the Down players as they held on for an important win. Avonvale 2nd produced a great display to beat Keynsham 3rd 25-21. Young flanker Harry Iles produced a man-of-the-match performance. ■ AVON Three unanswered tries in the final six minutes saw Imperial pull off an incredible comeback to defeat Avon 34-19. Despite selecting three forwards in their back line due to injuries, Avon made light of the changes in the first half as they raced to a 19-3 lead through tries from Chaz Meddick, Chris Mutlow and Scott Book. Imperial scored a try to close the gap but with time running out, there was no sign of the drama to come with Avon odds-on to extend their winning run. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, Imps ran the ball at every opportunity and took advantage of some unusually slack defence to add another quickfire hat-trick of converted tries to turn the game on its head and leave Avon wondering what could have been. Meanwhile, Avon 2nd hosted St Mary’s 3rd, who stepped in at short notice to fill a gap in the fixture list. Although not a Merit Table match, St Mary’s showed great sportsmanship to loan a few players to Avon to balance out the numbers in the spirit of rugby. An enjoyable match resulted with Avon just edging a close competitive game thanks to tries from skipper Louis Belsten, Matt Thresher, Dave Rutter (2), Francesco (2) and Connor. ■ WALCOT 2nds proved too strong for visitors Chew Valley 3rds and ran out 49-12 winners in their Somerset Division Two North match last Saturday. In blustery conditions at Lansdown hosts Walcot were looking to bounce back from their heavy defeat at Weston-super-mare the previous week and dominated possession from the off. They were soon rewarded when powerful lock Ed Perry forced his way over from the back of a ruck from two yards out to put Walcot 5-0 up after 10 minutes. Chew, however fought back and scored a try of their own two minutes later. However, it wasn’t to be the visitor’s day and Walcot came back strongly with Louis Messer powering over to make it 10-7 after 17 minutes. Walcot’s next try was a real team effort with Number 8 Tom Mitchell making a great break supported by hooker, Chris Martin who managed to offload to flanker, Alex Phantis. The ball was then recycled smartly and went through a few more pairs of hands before flanker and captain Ricky Messer went over to finish the move which started in Walcot’s half. It was only a matter of time before Mitchell scored, and with Chew struggling to bring him down in first-half overtime, he made a break and scored on the stroke of half time. Fly-half Kai Powell added the extras to make it 22-7 at the interval. After the break the visitors really struggled to get any joy with Walcot’s defence proving rock solid. Walcot scored again just five minutes into the half with veteran back rower Stuart Foxon powering through a couple of tackles to score his side’s fifth try. By now, the hosts were rampant and were pushing Chew all over the park in the scrums and winning most of the visitors’ line outs too. The next 20 minutes was the Tom Mitchell show with the number 8 scoring three tries including one from a break in his own half. Ged Sykes converted this one and the score was 44-7. Chew then scored a try of their own before young winger Kieran Cunningham scored for Walcot and the game finished 49-12. Tom Vowles won the Nando’s Bath Vaults Man of the Match award although there were many contenders. Kai Powell had a great game at fly-half and scrum-half Ronan Finnegan was everywhere and took some big hits for the team. The whole pack were immense and gave Walcot a great base from set pieces and, of course, Tom Mitchell with a four-try performance. Props Neil Fletcher and Julian Seegobin also deserve a mention for solid performances, both in the scrums and in the loose.