With Jack Salisbury in hospital Dan Prime stepped into the breach despite his reservations to take over at scrum half and Loz Armstrong came in from the colts to fill the fly half berth. The front row had also been bolstered by the return of Rich Ford from injury but the side was pretty much as it has been all season.

The short trip to Failand meant that the side was on ground and warming up in plenty of time. Stand in captain Benny Hill (again, as Walker remains crocked and hadn't shown up to watch) was a bit late as he found himself locked into the neighboring golf club car park.

Fully expecting the league leader to present a severe challenge Athletic went at it like terriers, nothing to lose, everything to gain was the rationale and immediately Athletic put Old Bristolians under pressure from the kick off. They soon gave away a penalty in front of the posts and Prime quickly posted a penalty kick for Athletic to take the lead.

Athletic maintained a high standard and pressed Old Bristolians causing them to make a poor clearance kick which was fielded by full back Josh Wheeler who stepped past two weak attempted tackles and sprinted for the line for a fine individual score which had been the result of great pressure from the whole team.

Prime converted and Weston despite being surprised to be in charge were ruthless in attacking again from the restart.

Successive phases of forward drives and exceptional distribution from Armstrong put Josh Wheeler away for a second try in the corner just 4 minutes after his first. Prime's conversion attempt shaved the post.

The Old B s captain had been injured in a brave tackle which had been mistimed and the loss of their leader seemed to sap any remaining resistance from Old Bristolians.

Straight from the restart excellent driving play from the rampant Weston pack led to an energetic break by the impressive Ford whose offload was off the highest quality and gave a clear run to the line from 10 meters for centre Ben Wheeler who duly touched down for his ninth try of the season.

Further intense pressure on the Old Bristolians scrum, who were now regularly conceding possession at the set piece led to a second penalty converted by Prime and Athletic were soon celebrating the bonus point try as a succession of forward drives gave Smit the try as he forced his way over from short range.

At the interval Athletic had the Old Bristolians, previously winning all but two of their games, on the rack. The team were determined to keep a clean sheet and decided that Old Bristolians were likely to throw everything at them as the had the advantage of both breeze and slope.

Athletic read it correctly, they were not able to keep up an open attacking game and instead defended with great determination. Despite facing a fierce period of attack from Old Bristolians the only reward for the host was a single penalty.

Athletic were able to break down every attack, turned over possession, won all their own scrums and all but two of Old Bristolians and successfully disrupted any possession that Old Bristolians got from line outs.

Ford and Hunt destroyed the Old Bristolians front row and time and again Athletic mounted incursions into the Old Bristolians 22.

Another great drive by the Athletic pack took them close to the line and following an Old Bristolians infringement and an attacking scrummage the Athletic secured the hook and drove the Old Bristolians pack over the try line from 8 meters for scrum half Prime to touch down the pushover try which he then converted.

Athletic were able to contain the last effort from Old Bristolians and finished with a memorable and well deserved victory by 3-39.

This was an exceptional team performance and arguably the best Athletic performance for a number of years. Most of the side have played most of their rugby in the Athletic and there were excellent displays from the younger players. Armstrong's distribution, Mitchell's attacking and sterling defence were a joy to watch.

The Wheeler brothers both continue to impress. Blackborow's tackling was peerless, Smit turned ball over all afternoon whilst Ford and Hunt provided pressure that Old Bristolians could not cope with. Frost and Ashworth cleaned up the line out.

Hearne, Wheatley and the veteran Sparks substituted and maintained the flow of the game. Prime, despite his disappointment at not being in the 10 shirt had a fine game and a personal points tally of 19 points.

The referee who has had six years experience refereeing premiership rugby was very complimentary about the standard of rugby played. Old Bs for their part, despite being completely outplayed maintained a high standard of sportsmanship and courtesy. This has to have been one of Weston Rugby clubs finest afternoons and was a wonderful advertisement for club rugby at this unregulated level.

As manager I often think that the effort required to get a side out outweighs any pleasures, but this game has made it all worth while - this was a thoroughly entertaining game, a dominant and exceptionally good result, absolutely brilliant. If you hadn't known you would not have believed this was Weston's third team; skilled , disciplined, committed, sporting, first class.

They don't like it up them!!!

C'mon west.

Four games to go, can we win them all?