Sat 9 Nov 2024, 13:15
On another murky day and after a minute's silence in honour of Remembrance Sunday the game kicked off early in order to facilitate the international between England and Australia.
After an uninspiring start when both teams traded penalties with alarming regularity it was Keynsham who finally took the initiative when outside centre Matt Carr scored wide out on the right following a period of interplay between forwards and backs. The conversion was expertly taken by Harvey Hobbs to put the visitors seven points up in the twelfth minute. They increased their lead in the seventeenth minute when a long missed pass found Henry Stratton with no defenders in front of him to score in the same corner. This time the conversion was unsuccessful.
The visitors had their tails up and they increased their lead when they took one against the head to put Stratton over for his second again unconverted.
It wasn't long before they had their tails bonus point in the bag when Lewis Butt was on hand to out sprint the defence. This time Hobbs was successful with the kick.
In the thirty third minute Weston finally got on the board when replacement prop Martin Hakunavanhu was on hand to crash over to make fly half George Nuttycombes conversion an easy one.
Hobbs added a penalty shortly after to put the visitors twenty points to the good.
Weston huffed and puffed and a couple of big hits by number eight Callum Kingscott woke the hosts up a bit but they couldn't add further points before halftime.
After the break Weston started strongly and only an excellent tackle on Adam Fisher prevented to flanker from crossing.
Weston kept the pressure on and following a series of drives Hakunavanhu dove over for his second which was again converted by Nuttycombe.
Their joy was short lived however when a hopeful kick was gleefully gathered from a good bounce by Jack Skelton to add to Westons woes.
A strong run by centre Archie Tilsley and a fine off load by wing Hayden Main gave fullback and captain Chris Young the opportunity to break through a couple of tackles to reduce the deficit.
Keynsham then broke blind from a scrum and it ended with Weston taking the ball back over their line to concede a five metre penalty which resulted in a try for number eight Callum Bennett. The conversion was a success for Hobbs from wide out.
A fine break by Young put Weston on the attack again and from a put in by Weston Young was bundled into touch just short of the visitors line. Keynsham held their nerve and cleared the danger.
Young almost got through again but the ball was slapped down when a scoring pass was on.
Their joy game then meandered until with five minutes remaining the Keynsham winger was yellow carded for a deliberate knock on. Weston launched attack after attack and eventually flanker Tom Lewis crossed for Weston's fourth try. Nuttycombe again doing well with the conversion.
Keynsham then kicked a penalty to put them out of sight and then added another one by Hobbs from the halfway line to round off proceedings.
Another disappointing display after the upsurge at Gordano the previous week and Weston have got to improve their starts to games or it will be a long season.
For Weston there were encouraging performances in defeat by captain Young
Props Fatai Koloi and Charlie Brabham who returned to the club this week from Old Reds.
Next weekend Weston travel to Witney in what will probably be the first meeting between the two clubs.
