Rugby Seasiders enjoy eight-try victory over strugglers Cleve
Cleve.............................................. 0 Weston ..........................................54 DEPLETED Cleve side was put to the sword by Weston in a one side derby at The Hayfields.
The visitors scored eight unanswered tries and Cleve are now on the brink of being relegated into South West One West along with Newton Abbot and Old Patesians.
Cleve were forced to go into this round 23 South West Premier clash against the Seasiders with five props in the pack, coach Chris Brooker at No8 and retired director of rugby Dave Partington in the second-row. The home side were just as hampered in the backs, with a mix and match of all abilities filling in to fulfil the fixture.
Weston, who can relax knowing their current ninth-place position will secure level five status again next season, can now concentrate their focus on the Combination Cup final against Thornbury in April. Player coach Glen Dickson, Brad Talbot, Robbie Mackay all dotted down for try doubles, while Marcus Nel and James Mackay, who also landed four conversions and three penalties, also crossed the chalk.
Partington said: “It’s been a season to forget - what could go wrong has gone wrong for us. We’ve had a freak number of injuries throughout this campaign and a number of our lads have either returned to their native lands or gone travelling to compound our player shortage because of injury. Obviously we
Awere up against it with a scratch side against Weston, but at least we managed to get a side out.” His opposite number Mark Philp said it didn’t take long to come up with a game plan to suit the circumstances. He said: “With five props and two hooker in their eight the last thing we wanted to do was have an arm wrestle with the Cleve pack. What we tried to do was put the ball out at every opportunity and run everything. We ran them ragged for most of the match, although we did go off the boil a bit in the second-half.”
Keynsham finally banished their relegation fears with a 34-12 victory over Thornbury. It’s not as straight forward for Thorns, who are hovering one place above the drop zone but with a relatively healthy 10 point lead over Teignmouth who they face at Rockhampton Road at the weekend. A home win on Saturday would all but guarantee survival.
Pack power paved the way for Keynsham’s 12th South West One West win of the season, who used their forwards to monopolise possession in the second-half. The only time Thornbury secured any ball for a respectable period they scored a try through Louis Ogilvie. It didn’t help Thorns’ cause by having to play the final 10 minutes with two players in the sin bin. Keynsham’s tries came courtesy of Jack Weston, John Pearce, Jack Evans, Adam Harrison and Joe Clements, with Sam Challenger adding the rest from the kicking tee. Jack Hussey added to Ogilvie’s try with Jake Wood adding a conversion for Thorns.
Hornets, meanwhile, slumped to their 13th defeat of the season after going down 34-12 at local rivals North Petherton. The Weston-based out-fit struggled to cope with the size and physicality of the home pack and were out muscled for large parts of the game. Hornets did score two tries, though, with Charlie Carter and Joe Gadd going over, while Jordan Humphris kicked a conversion for the Hutton Moor side. Clevedon eased their Western Counties North relegation worries with a 16-10 win over Chipping Sodbury at Colridge Vale that moves them eight points clear of the drop zone. Clevedon are not safe yet, but coach Nick Hill will sleep more easily if his side can beat second bottom Chosen Hill at the weekend.
Sodbury took the lead with a try from Matt Tate, converted by Dan Bradley. Clevedon, who handed 18 year old scrum-half Ethan Thomas his first team debut, replied with a try down the blindside for Ryan Harvey that was converted by Jordan Mein. Bradley added another penalty for Sodbury, but Mein slotted two to nudge Clevedon 13-10 ahead at the break.
Early in the second-half Mein booted his third penalty before leaving the action with a suspected broken ankle.