South West One

St Ives 7 pts Weston-super-Mare 7 pts

WESTON will consider this a point lost and bottom club St Ives, who are having a wretched season, will be delighted with their point, but in truth, the real winner was the weather.

The Cornish village is a lovely little spot in the summer, but the coastal hilltop ground is rarely welcoming during the winter months, and so it proved.

The game was played in driving rain and a howling gale which arrived on cue five minutes before the kick-off, and although both sides, on occasions, tried to play rugby, the match was inevitably dictated by the elements.

It is hard to think of many incidents of note on which to base a decent report as defences were in the ascendancy, the slippery ball was dropped on numerous occasions by both sides as they strove to create an attacking platform and the whole match degenerated into an 80-minute maul.

Ironically neither side was able to benefit greatly from the conditions.

St Ives kicked off the wind in their favour and took the lead after 20 minutes when Turnbull, from an attacking maul, squeezed over from three yards past some indifferent tackling.

The try was converted for a seven-point lead and so it stayed until half time.

The visitors should have been pleased with having conceded just one, albeit careless try, but they fared no better than their hosts.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, Weston equalised when second row forward Andy Richards was driven over from a five-yard scrum.

Armstrong converted and with 25 minutes to go, Weston could look forward to increasing this lead.It did not happen.

There was no control at the set pieces or the rucks.

Throwing in at the line-out was a lottery although only hooker Burge will know why he persisted with long throws in this weather and attacking opportunities were wasted.

Armstrong chipped ahead sweetly only for Warman to misjudge the bounce, and another seven points went begging.

The final whistle was an obvious relief for the players, but not as much as it was for the spectators.

Such games offer little chance to impress.

Veteran prop forward Mark Matthews warrants mention, as does youngster David Price who replaced him 10 minutes from the end for his debut.

Will Tuitupou made some hard yards but inevitably the support was lacking, or the ball was spilled.

Armstrong made one or two sniping runs, but cold hands in the backs led to dropped or misdirected passes.

Weston's high-scoring winger Crichton spent a frozen afternoon spectating.

Weston: Warman, Crichton, Main (Reid), Madamombe, Young, Armstrong, Hember, Matthews (Price), Burge, Gukibau, Richards, Russell, Cook (Ball), Tuitupou, Sparks.