With Midsomer Norton Rugby Club's First Team being handed a walk-over on Saturday in their Somerset Vase game against Imperial, it was the Seconds who took centre stage when they entertained Wellington at Norton Down in a rearranged Somerset League One encounter.

The game ebbed and flowed with both sides having their fair share of possession, but the Seconds narrowly lost out in a game between two evenly-matched sides. Both sides had their fair share of possession, but it was Norton who made the key mistakes which saw the visitors edge the win.

It was Wellington who started the strongest, looking dangerous in the loose and eventually they capitalised when Norton ran out of

defenders to enable them to score the first try of the game.

The home side soon

responded though, which

enabled them to take the lead. Increasingly, Norton were finding space along the left flank, with centre, James Abbott, and winger, Chris Harper, combining to good

effect. This allowed Norton to gain field position and from here, the pack took control. A series of strong, close-range drives set up the position for replacement second row, Ben Parker, to charge over. Full-back, Tom Rideout, added the conversion.

More good play by the home side saw them come close again but they were just held out by the Wellington defence. The referee came back to an earlier penalty which Rideout converted to give Norton a 10–5 half-time lead.

Norton conceded almost straight from the restart, when they failed to collect from the kick-off. This lapse allowed the visitors to take the lead with a converted try.

Back came Norton with another Rideout penalty, before Wellington replied with one of their own to regain the lead. Second row, Leo Glass, looked likely to settle the game when he made a tremendous break from his own twenty-two.

Unfortunately, the final pass failed to go to hand with the try line beckoning. Soon after, Wellington added another penalty and despite Norton's best efforts, they were just unable to make another telling contribution. Next week, the Seconds travel to Imperial.