MIDSOMER NORTON 34 MATSON 26

After the constant rain during the previous weekend’s game, the Midsomer Norton supporters were greeted with a glorious day at Norton Down for the game against visitors, Matson.

Starting the game playing down the slope, the home side began quickly, and in the first scrummage they demolished their opposition. Keeping Matson on the back foot and in their own half, the pressure eventually allowed Murphy to finish off an attack and score in the left-hand corner. Taylor added the extra points, from the touchline.

Having got the journey out of their legs Matson now got into their stride and scored under the posts, levelling the score at 7-7.

Norton put this behind them; their big forwards, Jenner, Edgell, Button, Swift and Fear, carried the ball at their opposition. Fly-half, Abbott, used his boot to keep the ball in Matson territory, but this relentless pressure soon took its toll. The team took the lead again, when scrum-half, Knight, scored at the base posts, with Taylor adding the extra points.

Norton added another seven points when Button drove off the side of a breakdown to touch down, again with Taylor adding the extras. As the half came to a close, Matson resulted to taking a penalty kick to try to close the gap, but the ball struck the post and it finished 21-7 in the home side’s favour.

Now playing up the slope, the back three of Jeffery, Church and Schuster ran the ball out of defence. One attack allowed Murphy to make a break from just inside Matson’s half, shrugging off tackles as he scored under the posts. Taylor then kicked another easy conversion. Gimson, from the bench, now joined his teammates, Denning, Clark and Sawkins, to carry the ball at the opposition.

The visitors took advantage of the slope to dominate the game for a fifteen-minute period, and closed the gap with three scores. Two from the pack driving off set-pieces, one from a line-out and another from a scrum. During this period, Norton were only able to respond with two penalties from Taylor.

Matson, at the end of the game, were awarded a penalty. They again decided to take the points, this time to gain a losing bonus point. The result was the same as at the end of the first half – the kick was missed. The final score stayed at 34-26 to Norton.

This win has put Norton at the top of the table, with five wins out of five.

Steve Blackmore