Weston kicked off into the teeth of a gale and driving rain and despite playing the bulk of the game in their own half, turned around only 7-0 down at the interval.

Barnstaple had been forced to replace prop forward Drew as early as the 10th minute as their pack struggled to compete, but they managed to score from a close-range scrum, when diminutive No 8 Lowrie was not wrapped up firmly enough in the tackle and was able to offload to a fellow back row forward who crossed from five metres, converted by Petheridge converted.

The visitors brought about their own downfall, trying to run the ball from deep, which gave the home side gratuitous loose possession, and from one such instance, a midfield tackle was missed and a try resulted under the sticks and comfort for Barum with only 15 minutes remaining.

Weston finally joined the game in the 70th minute when, from a series of close-range scrums, where the home side was constantly penalised, their forwards comfortably drove over from 10 metres for flanker Tom Crossman, on a welcome return following injury, to get the touchdown. Young converted.

A speculative high ball was dropped inside the Weston half. A frantic kick and rush ensued and a Barum player was credited with the score under a pile of bodies to make the final score 28-7.

Weston had not played to their strengths against weaker forward opposition, and had got themselves involved in a match which was far more open than the conditions warranted.

Weston-super-Mare: R Bennett, M Watkins, E Maloney (O Caton), M Chisholm, S Edwards, C Young, H.Tuttiett, M Walker (D Crompton), C Withers, O Streeter, A Glen, A Russell (c), B Cox (T Crossman), S Eaton, C Gleason.

Weston-super-Mare scorer - try: Tom Crossman; con: Chris Young