Sat 22 Feb 2020
BRIXHAM 28 WESTON SUPER MARE 19
Weston travelled to the Devon Riviera without the services of four scrum halves with first team experience and had to rely on nippy winger Kyran Devitt gallantly offering to plug the gap.
With second team regular fly half Archie Tilsley filling in for injured player coach Dan Lomax an inexperienced half back combination began the game.
Brixham playing down the slope hit the ground running and were soon ten points to the good through a converted try and a penalty. They increased their lead through another penalty before Weston just after the half hour reduced the deficit when number eight Brad Talbot broke blind and kicked on for right wing Cameron Maslen to outpace the defence.
Full back George Chapman did well to convert in the windy conditions. Weston has been up against it for much of the half but their excellent defence had kept the hosts down to a six point lead.
Playing down the hill in the second half Weston made an early mistake and were penalised with three points from the boot.
However there then began a twenty minute period when the visitors dominated the game coming from a nine point deficit to lead by three points with tries from tight head prop Ollie Streeter who once again took a few defenders over with him and flanker Jacob Cox who sniffed an opportunity to gallop over. Chapman converted one of these tries and it looked as though Weston might pull off an unlikely victory.
But another line out error by Weston gave Brixham renewed vigour and they went on to score two late tries to give them a victory that had looked unlikely only ten minutes previously.
Weston were never really in a good place all afternoon and although they had a purple patch the hosts won because they made fewer mistakes and were more clinical when they had attacking opportunities.
No blame however can be attached to either Devitt or Tilsley who both performed admirably in difficult conditions.
