Weston Super Mare 26 - Cleve 13
Mar
This was Westons' sixth League win in seven as they continued their
fight to escape from the relegation zone and in doing so avenged the
early season away loss and ensured that their visitors have yet to win
at the Recreation Ground.
These local derbies are usually lively affairs, and in spite of a midday
downpour which swamped the pitch, both sides contributed fully to an
entertaining match.
The home side attacked strongly for the first ten minutes, missing out
on a couple of try scoring opportunities in the face of stout defence
and it was Cleve who opened the scoring after ten minutes when they
escaped and created a straightforward penalty opportunity goaled by fly
half Spencer.
The visitors continued to press, dominating the next twenty minutes
and the defence of the Weston midfield, flanker Wright and winger
Middlemiss excelled as the lively Cleve backs made little headway, and
the home side took the lead after 35 minutes when Mackay, following a
half break, managed to get the ball away in the tackle to give Warman a
run in from ten metres. Dickson converted for a 7-3 half time scoreline.
The second half saw the Weston pack begin to get on top and from a scrum
on the Cleve 22, Mackay cut a fine line to cross untouched under the
posts to double the lead. Cleve responded three minutes later when Ajuwa
escaped for a corner try, which went unconverted.
The next twenty minutes saw almost total Weston domination. The visitors
lost diminutive flanker Pool to the sin bin and immediately Dickson
crossed from a ten metre scrum which he converted for a 21-8 lead.
This became 26-8 ten minutes later when Ajuwa got into a real mess
trying to field Dicksons' well placed cross kick, and second row Glen,
loitering with intent on the left wing, was on hand to pick up the
pieces for a fourth try, and a welcome bonus point.
The home side obviously thought that they had done enough. The defence
went totally absent for Cleve winger Brooker to run 25 metres down an
unpopulated blind side for a consolation last minute score.
Weston team....Warman, Middlemiss (Trevena 40), Bennett, Mackay,
Sprague, Dickson, Conway, Price, Burge, Williams (Donegan 67), Glen,
Richards, Smith (Fry 65), Wright, Sparks.
