Sat 9 Mar 2024
Regional 1 South West
Weston-super-Mare 38 Exmouth 28
In the day’s only Regional 1 South West match, rearranged from March 2, relegation-threatened Weston-super-Mare ran in six tries against visitors Exmouth who were denied a bonus point due to a late try.
Prop Ollie Streeter led out the players in his two hundredth appearance for the Weston first team as both teams marked a minute silence in memory of former Club President Rod Crocker who passed away last month.
Weston took the lead in the sixteenth minute after an even start when skipper Tom Sugg forced his way over from a penalty awarded for a high tackle on right-wing Dominic Marshall.
However, Exmouth equalised when their powerful centre Nick Headley broke through the defence and then took the lead when fly-half Gareth Roebuck converted after nearly half an hour's play.
Weston countered almost immediately and following some sustained pressure Sugg crossed for his second of the afternoon expertly converted by young fly-half George Nuttycombe from wide out on the left.
Sugg was then somewhat unfairly yellowed for an accumulation of penalties. Exmouth pounded the home line but a timely clearance by scrum-half Dan Lomax prevented a further score for the visitors.
Exmouth then benefitted when Headley was on the end of an intercepted pass by loosehead prop Olli e Dawe very close to their line to go under the posts for an easy Roebuck conversion to give the visitors a two-point lead at the break.
A quick kick through by Nuttycombe led to a knock-on by the visitors and from the resulting scrum with the referee playing the advantage, Weston kept excellent continuity and replacement flanker Kieran Broomsgrove dabbed down.
Nuttycombe, who was to make his Somerset U20s debut against their Gloucestershire counterparts in Cheltenham on Sunday, converted to give the hosts a five-point advantage.
A fantastic counterattack by Weston ended on Exmouth's line and the clearance kick was gathered by Nuttycombe whose long pass found Marshall who galloped over under the sticks to give the fly-half the simplest of kicks.
Exmouth hit back ten minutes later when they benefitted from a lost ball and No.8 Ben Hawley went under the posts. Roebuck added the extra to cut the lead back to five points.
Weston then went on the attack and excellent hands led to Lomax burrowing over from a metre out with Nuttycombe converting. Exmouth were then held up over the line for a goal-line drop out.
Their persistence paid off in the end when good hands led to the visitors scoring a try through wing Matt Ryan. The conversion by Roebuck, with three minutes to go, set them up for a losing bonus point.
But Exmouth wanted more than the one point as they tried to mount an attack from close to their own line with seconds remaining. But Marshall was alert to snaffle the ball to score his second try and put Weston out of sight.
This proved to be the final play of a highly entertaining match in which both sides contributed to making it a very enjoyable spectacle. Exmouth remain in sixth place while Weston ended a run of twelve defeats.
Weston's debutant centre Sam Garrett, a recent signing from Wells, had a fine game, particularly in defence with his centre partner Brad McPate. The whole Weston team can be proud of their 80-minute performance.
