Injuries leave Vale with too much to do
Avonvale travelled to Blandford looking for their first victory but came unstuck against a very big side and an inept performance.
With a whole back-line out injured or unavailable, Vale started brightly when, after ten minutes, flanker Will Darvil sent a mis-pass out to wing Morgan Williams to shoot over in the corner. Prop Hayden Rogers converted.
Blandford upped their game and, for the next 50 minutes, Vale were defending desperately. Blandford converted a try and a penalty to lead 10-7 at half-time before scoring another converted try and a penalty to lead 20-7.
Vale did bounce back and, after a great forward drive, the ball came back to fly-half Alex Pugh who put in a pinpoint kick to the corner for wing Elliott Crabbe to touch down, the vital conversion was missed from wide out. Blandford though took the game away with another converted try to end up winners by 27-12.
Vale coach Dave George said: “We are having a lot of bad luck with injuries with around ten players not available, but we will continue to battle on and hope the victories will come.”
■ AVON The afternoon started with a perfectly observed minute’s silence for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, which was so well respected by all present.
Avon did not get off to the best of starts when centre Escher Le Duc was red carded for what was deemed to be an illegal clear out at a ruck with only two minutes on the clock. This meant an immediate change in the game plan as Avon looked to play possession rugby to take the sting out of a Tor side who were looking to exploit their extra man.
Having ridden out the early onslaught, the Avon pack took control and put the first points of the day on the board with a pushover try finished off by number eight Dan Cousineau. Although the lineouts were even, the Avon pack had the upper hand in every other aspect and Tor had no answer to the visitors’ driving game.
This produced another try following an excellent attacking maul which saw Josh Hiscott touching down to give the visitors a 10-0 lead at half-time. Tor did their best to find the gaps in Avon’s 14-man defence as they looked to stretch the Bath side but, with Zak Harwood proving to be an absolute rock in midfield, Avon managed to keep them at bay.
They then extended their lead when debutant scrum-half Russ Hinds touched down following another dominant scrum. Avon were then guilty of overplaying in their own 22 and a dropped pass led to a try in the corner for the battling home side. Man of the match Cousineau put the game out of sight to add his second try to give Avon a well deserved bonus point win 20-7, having played 78 minutes a man short.
On Saturday, Avon play their first home game of the season when they entertain Imperial at Hicksfield.
ELSEWHERE, Keynsham produced a much better showing than their whitewash last week as they narrowly went down 28-29 at home to Newent in Regional 2 Severn. It’s the first time the home side has been beaten in this fixture this December 2019 when Keynsham won 12-8.
Walcot enjoyed a second consecutive victory over Yeovil in Counties 1 Southern South. After winning 43-5 at home in March, Walcot ran out 35-12 winners at Church Lane to avenge their opening day defeat at home to Combe Down. Combe were unable to build on that victory, but did play out a 15-15 draw at home to Wimborne - ending their losing streak against them.
Oldfield Old Boys made it two wins from two in Counties 2 Somerset. Hosting Yatton, Oldfield held on to win 24-20 to continue their good form at home over Yatton.
Stothert & Pitt bounced back from their opening day defeat under the lights with a convincing 56-12 victory at Midsomer Norton 2nd in Counties 3 Somerset North. Old Sulians made it back to back wins at Winscombe 2nd, securing a 24-17 success as they sit a point behind early leaders Chew Valley 2nd.
The local derby in Counties 3 Dorset & Wilts Central saw Corsham 2nd beat Combe Down 2nd 48-20 in their first game of the season. Combe had already won their opener the week previous but were unable to make it two wins from two. It was a slightly closer affair than the last two occasions this pair have met when Corsham won 90-7 in January 2020 and 50-7 in September 2019. Bath Saracens got their campaign off to a losing start as they were narrowly beaten 19-12 at Warminster 2nd.
Colerne also suffered defeat in their Counties 3 Dorset & Wilts North opener as they went down 24-13 at home to early leaders Chippenham 3rd. It was a third consecutive win over Colerne for Chippenham.