A fine but blustery Saturday saw the First Team welcome Bradford-on-Avon to Norton Down for the first time in many years.
The team was pleased to see Alex Mitchard back in the side following a long lay-up with a back injury. But the home side's pre-match preparation for the game was disrupted when James Abbott sustained a hamstring injury during the warm-up, this allowed Ross Miller to start on the wing.
The game started with Norton playing up the slope into the strong wind, this was making it difficult to kick out of defence to relieve Bradford-on-Avon's initial pressure. The opening first ten minutes was very even, with both sides picking up two penalties a piece for infringements at the breakdown.
Norton started to find a way to combat the wind and soon started to pressurise Bradford-on-Avon for long periods of time. Prop, Matthew Edgell, was the first to convert this pressure into points when he crashed over in the corner to score the first try. Captain, Denning, was the next to benefit from his team's hard work when he dispatched a couple of tacklers to score from a pre-planned line-out move.
Alex Mitchard scored Norton's third try after a long period of sustained pressure on Bradford's line.
The home side finished the half with a comfortable lead, but they knew there was still much work to do, to achieve the next target of the try bonus point.
Back row player, Joe Button, secured this point when he picked up the ball, went through the middle of a ruck, side-stepping one tackler and fending off another with a powerful handoff to score under the posts. Centre, Robbie Fuller, kept the scoreline ticking over, crashing over from close range.
The strong wind had now dropped, but Norton made good use of the slope and this allowed Alex Mitchard to add to his first-half try, with two more in quick succession, easily out-stripping the opposition backs. Norton were now in complete control of the game and with the scrum performing well, the forwards were producing clean, quick ball off of both the set piece and breakdown. Both wingers, Miller and Withers, took advantage of this to join the centres on the scoresheet.
Norton's final try came after a powerful five-metre scrum was collapsed illegally as the visitors were being driven over the try line. Norton had secured their first win of the season with a final score of 64–6 and now look forward to next week's game at Dorchester.