Midsomer Norton RFC 12

Having had some problems with the journey, one player arriving 15 minutes before kick-off, Norton quickly got into the game. Winning a penalty in the Kingsbridge twenty-two metre area, second row Gimson took a quick tap, catching the home side off guard and forced his way over the line for the first score of the day.

The home side quickly benefited from a Norton infringement and opened their account with a penalty goal and then took the lead, 8–5, ten minutes before half-time, with an unconverted try.

The Norton backs saw quite a lot of the ball, with centre, Rowles and winger, Snelling, both having a number of strong runs. A couple of minutes before the break, Norton regained the lead with a try from a catch and drive at the lineout, Captain Denning was the player who emerged from the bottom of the pile of players with the ball. The half ended, 8–12.

Kingsbridge started the second half the brighter of the two teams and kept that momentum up throughout the half. Norton found themselves playing in the wrong part of the field for most of the half, and seemed to find it impossible to put together an effective exit strategy.

Kingsbridge closed the gap with a penalty goal, following a penalty given for a high tackle, then took the lead when the visitors’ Number 8 picked up from the base of a twisting scrummage and off loaded the ball, allowing his fullback to score a converted try.

Norton found themselves having to chase the game and wasted scoring chances with poor execution at the line out and unforced handling errors. Kingsbridge added to Norton’s problems by scoring in the last couple of minutes of the game taking the score to 25–12.