Counties 2 Somerset

Weston United 15 Minehead Barbarians 5

Having had a week off, Weston were looking forward to the visit of Minehead.

Weston started the match and were playing into a blustery wind first and found the first quarter of the match hard going against a heavy opposition.

Minehead missed the chance to take an early lead as the wind assisted in blowing a kickable penalty off course.

Twelve minutes in and Weston took the lead. Having been awarded a penalty they kicked to the corner and secured the lineout and from the resulting drive Simon Hudson touched down for the try.

Weston absorbed a lot of pressure in the first half and were happy to go in at the break leading 5-0.

The second half was all Weston as the wind picked up and the rain lashed down. 

The Weston scrum was now dominating proceedings and the pack were regularly shunting their heavier opponents backwards.

On the hour mark a poor clearance kick by Minehead was collected by fly half George Chapman to cross for an easy score. Chapman was unfortunate with his conversion attempt out wide as it rebounded off the post.

With ten minutes to play a Weston scrum was gaining momentum when Hudson broke blind, popped to Ben Searle who then passed to winger Ollie Caton to crash over.

Three tries scored and ten minutes to play Weston went in search of the fourth for the bonus point. Ollie Caton made a great break up to the ten metre line and was only thwarted by a ridiculously dangerous high tackle by a Minehead defender.

With a penalty awarded in a great attacking position and Minehead about to lose a player to the sin bin, Matt Burns ran in from fullback to cause a large needless scuffle. The referee correctly sent both players to the sin bin and then reversed the original penalty and the chance went awry.

In the last five minutes Minehead were camped near to the Weston try line and finally managed to score a Tom Lamacraft try in the corner in injury time.

This was a scrappy match and a game that Weston never looked like losing as they dominated for large periods. The front row of Jake Whatley, Joe Pullen and Will Hunt had a fine afternoon and caused their opponents several problems. Second row Ben Cradock carried and tackled relentlessly and grafted to the final whistle.

Weston will be kicking themselves that they didn't manage to secure the bonus point but they will be happy with the solid win.

Weston United: Matt Burns; Ollie Caton, Loz Ware, Sam Waterman, Troy Hannam; George Chapman, Ben Searle; Jake Whatley, Joe Pullen, Will Hunt, Ben Cradock, Callum Kiongscott, Paul Sprague, Billy Kirk, Simon Hudson. Reps: Ed Hunt, Dave Steele, Jon Filer

Weston United scorers - tries: Simon Hudson, George Chapman, Ollie Caton; yellow card: Matt Burns (74 mins)