Walcott OB 2nd XV 0 pts Weston Athletic 17 pts

Despite the club suffering a rash of injuries and with a number of regulars unavailable, Athletic were able to field a side including four colts, with three replacements.

The Athletic were disappointed to find that the game was to have uncontested scrums due to Walcott being unable to field a front row. This allowed the hosts to secure easy possession from their set piece.

Weston’s back row tackled well and continually disrupted Walcott’s possession and they never looked liked scoring.

Weston made good use of their superior line-out and from a clean catch by new man Dan Denning, the Athletic set up a text book driving maul which took them 27 metres to the line where prop Tom Wheatley touched down for the only score of the half. Stand-in fly-half Ben Searle’s conversion attempt fell just short.

Athletic decided at half-time to commit more men at the breakdown and as a result man of the match, colt Billy Kirk began to secure turnover ball.

Having moved play into Walcott’s 22 they secured a line-out, won again by Denning and a diving maul took them close to the line. Wheatley’s pick up and drive from short range brought Athletic’s second try. Searle’s conversion attempt hit the upright.

A smart mis-move called by Leahy saw the ball fly to Wheeler who took it at speed and carved his way through Walcott’s defence to score under the posts.

Leahy got the conversion and Weston were denied an identical score just minutes later when Wheeler was stopped by a neck-high challenge which went unpunished.

Dan Hewlett, who had worked hard in defence was unlucky to be yellow carded and for the last 15 minutes, Weston’s defence was tested as Walcott had their best passage of play, but determined and clinical tackling held them out.

This was a great team victory with debuts for Scott Metherall, Ben Fondue and Dan Denning, who all had great games.