Rain was falling when Norton arrived at Gordano, and this continued for the whole game. That said, Norton started brightly. Receiving the ball from the kick-off, Norton carried the ball strongly into the Gordano territory, setting up field position.

With the forwards winning good possession at a scrummage, this allowed scrum-half, Knight, to collect the ball and touch down for the game’s first score, with Taylor adding the extra points.

The pack’s power allowed number 8, Button, to score the second try of the game, as he touched down for a push-over try, and again, Taylor added the extras. Taylor then extended the lead with a penalty goal. Norton played out of defence, with strong runs from Clark, Fear and Jeffery.

Gordano slowly got into their stride, and scored following a good drive, taking the score to 5-17, but were unable to add the extra points when the ball hit the upright. Buoyed by this score, Gordano kept up their work rate and put Norton on the back foot; a series of missed tackles allowed them to add a second try, and the extra points were added, taking the score to 12-17.

Norton’s powerful forwards continued to dominate in the scrummage, eventually winning two balls against the head. With this constant pressure, the home team were forced into infringing, and one player received a yellow card. Fly-half Sinden consistently used the elements to keep his team in the opposition territory.

As the half drew to a close, small handling mistakes and good defence from the home side close to the line stopped Norton building up a commanding lead, and the half finished 12-17 in the visitors’ favour.

Norton now had to play into the strengthening breeze. Putting the ball through the hands, one move saw Denning feed winger, Palmer, who finished off the move to score on his First Team debut.

Gordano’s backs looked lively all game, but were largely ineffectual as they were deprived of the ball by the Norton pack. Gordano’s efforts were helped by Norton receiving two yellow cards in the half, one for prop, Edgell; the other for Button.

Norton kept the pressure on the home side for the whole eighty minutes, scoring right on the final whistle, extending their lead. This score again came from the scrummage, with Button diving over to score again. Taylor again added the extra points. The game ended with Norton having a winning margin of 17-31.