Sat 16 Jan 2016
Weston United 15 pts Winscombe 30 pts
Weston United welcomed neighbours and title contenders Winscombe to the Recreation Ground on a cold afternoon, but it was the visitors who went away with the points.
Winscombe were first to score, with a penalty advantage they spread the ball out wide to score in the corner.
Weston were awarded a penalty following foul play by one of the Winscombe pack.
Dan Prime kicked to the corner and from the resulting line-out, the pack drove over the line for Dave Steele to score.
Winscombe went on to score three further first-half tries, all from mistakes made by Weston.
The first was from Weston dropping the restart, the second came when they failed to find their jumper at their own line-out and the third from getting shunted off their own scrum.
Weston went in at the break trailing 5-20 and to their credit they were playing the attractive rugby and looking to run the ball, unlike their opponents who were keen on playing eight-man rugby with their bulky forwards.
On the hour mark, fly-half Prime made a fine break before chipping the ball over the flat defensive line to allow Matt Burns to scamper away and score the try of the match.
Weston lost returning forward Gain Simpson to the sin bin before Winscombe scored a basic try through their pack from the resulting penalty to extend their lead.
As Weston went in search of the four try and losing bonus points, Winscombe broke away and ended the match by scoring in the corner through their pack.
Weston showed heart and commitment throughout this match and went toe-to-toe with their heavier opponents.
Young Colt Jacob Cox was outstanding, while Simpson added a physical edge to the Weston pack and flanker Dave Bird grafted for the duration much to the frustration of his opposite number.
