Leading up to the start of the game the Athletic had 28 players available, an almost unheard of resource. Captain Mark Walker and team manager got the players together to talk about how great this was but that inevitably there would be some players who wouldn’t even get on to the bench as substitutes.

So 23 players got changed and started their warm up and practice session. The Stothert captain was approached by manager Andy Ballard and he was told that under no circumstances could Stothert sanction the use of the maximum number of replacements allowed under Tribute Somerset 2 North rules as “we’ve only got 14 and that wouldn’t be fair”.

Because of this failure to agree Cheds had to disappoint a further 5 players as Weston would now only be able to field 3 replacements. This decision by Stothert’s captain produced the most furious pre-match rant from Cheds, punctuated by expletives and exhortations to acts of bestiality and violence to the Athletic players for the double insult of turning up short handed (whilst their third team reputedly played at home with a full side) and their refusal to sanction the use of the full complement of 8 reserves which could be allowed.

It didn’t do Stothert much good and they might have been better advised to allow all the Athletic reserves to play as from the start Weston took control and shoved their pack all over the park and ran their backs ragged. Stothert had a 15th player turn up 5 minutes into the game but he was carried off 10 minutes later as he got caught by the Athletic’s rampant pack and suffered injured ribs.

The Athletic opened the scoring on 4 minutes with a 25 metre forward drive and touchdown by the gleeful Phil Hobbs. Two minutes later forwards and backs combined and Gibbs weaved his way through to score in the corner. He added a second just a few minutes later and Filer scored the bonus point try on 19 minutes.

So far Weston had missed all four conversions, but following well controlled forward play combining with the backs in full flow Filers scored a second try in the corner.

Dan Prime stepped up to take, successfully, the conversion from close to the touch line. With 25 minutes on the clock, and Weston at 27-0 in front, the ref then announced that he was only going to play 30 minutes each way to “prevent a cricket score.”

The Athletic manager protested this at the break, but the ref was determined to run a shortened game.

From the restart Weston remained dominant with a try from Elliot Monelle 2 minutes into the second half.

The ref, not content with shortening the game also seemed to be trying to even the game up. He ignored two obvious forward passes during the 10 minutes when Stothert managed to get some possession and they scored two tries very much against the run of play.

Normal service was resumed by a very disciplined Athletic side, determined not to allow either Stothert or the ref to spoil their day and great play saw Henry Monelle touch down for a well deserved try which was converted by Filer.

The game was rounded off in style by forwards and backs working seamlessly to put Leahy over for the final try before the ref blew for full time with just 31 minutes on the second half clock.

There were fine performances throughout the team Ashcroft making his first start worked very hard and when he retired from the game early in the second half with a nose bleed Tuohy went on and had his best performance this season.

The perennial Hill was influential in the first half and generously gave way at half time to allow Solomon returning from injury his chance which he took well. Hobbs and particularly Poat were dominant in the front row, and Poat covered huge amounts of ground to dominate the loose play.

The back row of the two Monelles and Walker linked well with the backs and Trott had another peerless performance at scrum half. Filer distributed well and Leahy produced a strong display.

Gibbs was elusive and both Prime and Hannam did well on their wings with Hannam putting in some particularly physical tackling. Josh Wheeler at full back looked secure and ran the ball back at the opposition very effectively.

The Athletic can be very pleased with this performance which leaves the second in the league.

Somerset RFU need to consider the replacements rule. It cannot be right that an opposition captain can veto and therefore control who plays for Weston.

Rugby at this level is all about getting as many players involved as possible and giving as many people game time as can be reasonably managed. If a team can deny the use of all replacements, and give this decision just minutes before the kick off, then clubs with a good level of player resource have to turn away men who want to play.

That cannot be good for the further development and growth of participation sport. They also need to consider the decision of the referee to foreshorten a game. Come the end of the season points difference could be crucial in any promotion race.

On Saturday the Athletic were probably denied 30 or more points. We understand how demoralising this can be for a team that loses by this margin – Athletic were right there this time last season, but shortening a game is patronising to the losing team and frustrating for the winners.