Somerset Blackthorn Cup Final at Welllington RFC

Bridgwater & Albion 7 Weston-super-Mare 33

A try hat-trick by left-wing Paul Sprague sent Weston to victory at Wellington as they won the Somerset Blackthorn Cup for the sixth time.

Sprague demonstrated his undoubted finishing class by scoring the Seasiders' first two tries and he touched down early in the second half to make the match safe. But this was no one-man show.

Bridgwater exerted early pressure, and there was more of the same for a 15-minute period after the break.

But this was answered by some powerful tackling, particularly by T J Madamombe and Joe Ewens.

The other feature was the neutralisation of Bridgwater's back row by the excellent Weston trio of Kevin Hobbs, Michael Denbee and George Sparks.

Weston hardly saw the ball for the first 10 minutes and Hobbs' tackle on Bridgwater wing Gavin Hancock was a try saver, but they went into the lead on 18 minutes.

A break by Madamombe, supported by Ewens, was rewarded by Mark Armstrong's deft chip for the first of Sprague's tries.

Armstrong converted, and five minutes later he added the conversion to the wing's second.Sparks and Hobbs drove down the middle and Ewens' long floated pass was gratefully accepted by Sprague, who swiftly sprinted to the posts.

As Bridgwater attacked again, they took maximum advantage of the yellow card awarded against Ashley Russell by scoring a pushover try by Simon Ranson, converted by Andrew George.

This brought the score back to 14-7, but just before the interval, Sparks' catch and drive gave Armstrong the chance to follow his own chip for Weston's third try.

The Seasiders needed to score early in the second half, and following Denbee's disallowed try, Sprague stepped up to complete his hat-trick with a scintillating individual effort.

Armstrong converted for a 19-point advantage and the introduction of Simon Williams to Weston's front row soon had the Bridgwater scrum travelling upwards and backwards.

Nevertheless, Bridgwater enjoyed a good 15 minutes, but Weston's rock-solid defence was not for breaching and they had the final word when Goran Vucicevic ran from his own 22 to set up his team's fourth try, touched down by Madamombe.

Armstrong converted for a personal tally of 13 points and so ended a marvellously successful weekend for the club Sunday,

Bridgwater: Griffiths; Ward, Carter, Webber, Hancock; George (rep Andison 73), M Ranson (rep Salmon 65); Chase, R Prescott (rep Hastie 45), Bryant (rep Dickens 67), Northey, Pettingell, Watts (rep M Taylor 52), Rudkin, S Ranson,(rep Kemmish 45).

Weston: G Vucicevic; M McQuaid, T J Madamombe, J Ewens (S Bennett 71), P Sprague; M Armstrong, L Hember (J Reid 75); H Smith (E Hunt 77), D Burge, N Lavender (S Williams 50), A Russell, A Richards, K Hobbs (G Simpson 73), M Denbee (D Cook 77), G Sparks.

Bridgwater - Try: S Ranson. Con: George.

Weston - Tries: Sprague 3, Armstrong, Madamombe. Cons: Armstrong 4.