Tribute South West Premier

Weston-super-Mare 22 Brixham 7

Report by Chris Heath

Huw Morgan scoring his second try against Brixham

Ollie Streeter before and after his 150th first-team appearance

In far from ideal conditions in front of a large crowd, Weston overcame Brixham with a workmanlike performance in what was prop Ollie Streeter’s 150^th appearance for the Seasiders first team.

Streeter, who has appeared for Bristol United, made his debut Weston-super-Mare’s 1stXV in September 2014, in the 35-22 victory away to Newton Abbott. He has scored 13 tries along the way.

With the pitch on the stand side far from ideal but ultimately playable the first quarter of the match was nip and tuck with both sides having chances, but the excellent defence kept the scoreboard blank until midway through the first half.

It was then that Brixham took a kick ahead by right-wing Chris Young, but a follow-up tackle by live wire flanker Jack Woodland led to a penalty to the hosts, which they elected to scrum. 

Weston ran the ensuing ball, and a fantastically long lateral pass by fly-half James Mackay put left-wing Huw Morgan over in the left corner. Mackay miraculously kicked the conversion from the sideline. 

Shortly after, he added a penalty when impressive new boy Dylan Power, a Bristol Bears Senior Academy player, was high tackled. Brixham reacted well, and once again, only superb defence by the home side kept the visitors at bay.

The score remained 10-0 until the fifth minute of the second half when a Morgan kick through and chase led to yet another scrimmaged penalty that ended with Morgan crossing for his brace after a bewildering number of hands. 

Brixham briefly responded when their fly-half Jean-Pierre Simonetti cut through a gap to open the visitors scoring with full-back Joel Ashworth adding the extras, but their joy didn’t last long.

Almost from the restart, the ball came loose out of the scrum after a Brixham put in, and Woodland snaffled it to go on a mazy run before outpacing the defence, and Mackay added the extras.

That was the end of the scoring but not the end of the excitement as Streeter was hauled down a few yards short of the line following a rampaging run which resulted in possibly the biggest cheer of the day. 

Weston had their chances to secure a bonus point, but as has happened in previous games, perhaps a bit more patience in the red zone may eventually be rewarded.

The Fishermen had three players sent to the sin-bin, with Simonetti the first to be shown the yellow card by referee Oli Carey followed by wing Mat Crisscombe and replacement Ricky Workman.

A competent rather than spectacular performance by the hosts in which Woodland’s co-flanker Jacob Cox was quite terrific in the mud along with Ben Tothill and the unsung Sam Coles at prop. 

With the scrum once again secure and the ever-improving line out marshalled well by lock Ash Russell and hooker Josh Mynett, Weston is becoming increasingly difficult to beat, and things look promising for a good end to the season.

Weston remains fourth in the Tribute South West Premier table and again have home advantage on Saturday [January 15, 2022] when Okehampton, two places off the foot of the table, will be the visitors, kick-off 2.30 pm.

Weston-super-Mare scorers – tries: Huw Morgan (2), Jack Woodland; cons: James Mackay (2); pen: James Mackay.