South West One

Weston-super-Mare 25 pts Oxford Harlequins 8 pts

THE Recreation Ground witnessed two more thrilling tries by Christopher Crichton as Weston notched their sixth league victory of the season to move into third place in South West 1.

The 20-year-old New Zealander turned the match in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time with a stunning 90-metre sprint to the line and, after the break, a 45-metre run which took the hosts to 22-3 and certain victory.

But Weston had started sketchily.

A charged down clearance led to Quins' penalty, converted by Peter Davies, and although David Burge was driven over in the 11th minute, the score remained at 5-3 for the following 35 minutes.

The Seasiders' set scrum and line-out had been going well, but another charge-down and two bad handling errors which prevented scores kept the visitors in the match.

But, as the interval approached, Weston won a ruck near their own line and when Luke Hember fed Crichton, there was only going to be one result.

Ben Main converted and two minutes into the second half Tobias Gukibau's powerful surge gave the backs the chance to give Paul Sprague a corner try.With the score at 17-3, the hosts needed one more score to be able to breathe easier and it came a few minutes later when Main's heavy tackle created a turnover and Gukibau was again involved when his overhead pass put Crichton clear for his 15th try of the season.

For the next 35 minutes Weston had to carry out some important defensive duties and Quins scored their only try by Beau Wilson with eight minutes remaining, but Mark Armstrong's penalty ended the day's play.

Although the Seasiders won this match with a 4-1 try advantage, it was not all plain sailing.

There were still too many turnovers and dropped passes, but their line-out, with good work by Burge, Andrew Ball, David Cook and Paul Morrissey gave them plenty of possession.And when it came to defending, T J Madamombe and Andrew Richards were outstanding as was Morrissey, who produced his best performance in his 16th first team appearance.

On Saturday, Weston journey to West Sussex to meet Worthing in the second round of the EDF National Trophy (2pm).

Worthing, who include two former Sale professionals, are lying in second place in London 1.

Weston: H Warman; C Crichton, T J Madamombe, B Main, P Sprague (sin bin 31); M Armstrong, L Hember (R Drabble 64); T Gukibau (M Matthews 75), D Burge (capt), E Hunt, A Richards, A Ball (S Board 75), D Cook, P Morrissey, W Tuitupou.