Sat 15 Feb 2025, 14:15
In challenging conditions Weston started strongly and a powerful break by prop Charlie Brabham put the visitors in a dangerous area but Keynsham survived.
Some great defensive work by number eight Jay Davis led to Weston gaining a couple of important penalties and from one fly half George Nuttycombe kicked deep into Keynsham territory but once again were thwarted by good home defence.
Weston were looking dangerous and following more good work by Davis Brabham and wing Hayden Main Weston were in touching distance of opening the scoring but again just failed to capitalise.
Keynsham infringed again and Weston decided to take an easy three points through centre Archie Tilsley.
A fantastic break by Tilsleys centre partner Cam Maslen led to yet another penalty for Weston which was kicked to the corner. However the lineout was lost and another potential chance to increase the lead was gone.
An enterprising bit of play put the hosts into the Weston half for almost the first time but the visitors defence held.
Keynsham were definitely looking more dangerous now but excellent rearguard action kept them at bay.
A loose ball in midfield by Weston led to a kick through by the hosts but skipper and fullback Chris Young saved the day. Keynsham however had their tails up and with Weston now infringing regularly it looked as though all their early good work might come to nothing.
From dominating the early exchanges Weston were now permanently on the back foot and Keynsham wisely decided to take an easy three points to even up the score.
Straight from the restart Keynsham gathered and Weston scrum half Ashton Booth earned a team yellow. Keynsham kicked another three points to put themselves in the lead for the first time.
Keynsham then scored the first try of the game on the stroke of halftime in the left hand corner to put themselves eight points clear at the break.
The second half started with yet another penalty to Keynsham which was taken to give the hosts an eleven point buffer.
Weston hit back with three points by Tilsley and then shortly after were held up over the line.
After the introduction of tight head prop Ollie Streeter the scrum started to dominate proceedings and from one such scrum the visitors were handed a penalty which Tilsley successfully kicked to put Weston in bonus point range.
But Weston didn't stay squeaky clean and conceded yet another penalty and then were marched back ten. Keynsham were in the corner but great defence kept them out. With ten minutes remaining Weston needed a spark of genius from someone but with the referee penalising Weston with monotonous regularity Keynsham kicked another three points to go eight clear with five minutes remaining.
Weston never really looked like cutting the deficit in the closing stages.
And so the game came to a disappointing end for the visitors whose bright start was never repeated in the rest of the game with too many penalties conceded and a generally lack lustre performance.
