Rugby & table tennis History for Combe Down as they pass 1,000 points
All-conquering Combe Down have become the joint-second club in the country to break through the 1,000 point barrier for the season.
Their 43-7 away thrashing of Minety was their 19th win out of 19 in Dorset & Wilts 1 (North).
They need only one more victory to secure promotion to tier seven, with Avonvale 12 points behind them on 80 points and only three games to go.
Rochford Hundred in London 1 North were the first team to break 1,000 this season. They have scored a whopping 1,245 points in their 22 league wins so far.
Alton in Hampshire 1, Northern in Durham/northumberland 1 and Whitley Bay Rockliff in Durham/ Northumberland 2 also broke through 1,000 points last weekend. ■■ THE previous meetings between Avon and Oldfield Old Boys, the last only a few weeks ago, proved to classic local derbies with Avon just shading each game by less than a score.
This match however never quite reached the same heights and, as a c-ontest, was over by half-time. Old field opted to play with the strong wind in the first half and started brightly, taking the lead on three minutes from an Ali Lane penalty.
A-von, who had a wealth of expe rience in their pack and on the bench, took control of the ball in the strengthening wind with the forwards looking to carry and offload, spending the lion’s share of the half in possession. This denied Oldifled the chance of using the elements to full effect.
It took 13 minutes for the hosts to
take a lead they would never lose with a try from a driving maul by Xander Davis. The ever-improving Alex Gapper, who put in another man of the match performance, sniped from the base of a ruck for a second try.
Two minutes later, the Avon front row took a strike to the head and number 8 JJ Pulvertaff burst away, his offload found skipper Scoot Book who strolled in from 20m unchallenged. The ever reliable right boot of Johnny Bachelor added the conversion, just as he did again a minute before half-time after Gapper broke for the bonus point try to make it 26-3 at the break.
Avon didn’t make best use of the
elements in the second half, perhaps overplaying from deep instead of using the wind to propel t-o the corners. It took them 20 min utes to score again when a sliced Oldfield kick from behind their own line went to Zak Harwood to dot down the easiest of scores.
Josh Hiscoff added another to make it 40-3 before Avon were- reduced to 14 when Harwoodi was shown a red card for an adjudged high tackle. Oldfield, who were missing some key players due to injury, never gave up and took advantage to run in two wellworked late tries.
■■UNDER-18 - Avonvale Colts trave-lled to North Dorset to face Wim borne in the final of the Dorset & Wilts U18 cup. The strong wind wasn’t conducive to fine rugby and this suited the heavier Wimborne pack who played their well-drilled pick and drive game from the outset.
Avonvale spent much of the first half defending, despite the win blowing diagonally in their favour, but aggressive defence saw the ball turned over with number ten Tom clearing the lines. The wind made a mockery of lineout ball with numerous steals.
Tom did manage to break through the defence and was finally brought down in the opposition 22 for a lineout, this led to Harrison crashing over the line from a frontpeel move but it was disallowed for stepping over the five metre line.
Following the scoreless first half, Avonvale seemed to gain more possession despite facing the wind. From an infringement, Tom landed a difficult penalty and, after a bit of territory, eventually some powerful forward charges enabled Harrison to crash over for an unconverted try in the corner.
Wimborne responded with phase after phase and, despite some courageous tackling, crossed the line for an unconverted try of their own. The wind stopped the b-all from the kick-off, giving Wim borne a scrum, but Avonvale put in some huge hits to hold on.
A huge kick in the final moments saw Wimborne gain a lineout on the five metre line and every time Avonvale stopped them, they were getting penalised.
A knock on though gave Vale a scrum and the subsequent clearance meant they had claimed the cup.