Midsomer Norton Rugby Club’s Seconds’ trip to Bath brought a bonus point win in a commanding performance against some familiar faces.
Kicking down the hill in the first half, Norton made the most of their advantage with five first-half tries. Lewis Dyer opened the scoring early on, making the most of a quick ball to finish into the corner. He then turned provider, as his delicate chip was met first by the onrushing Thomas Rideout to double their advantage.
The home side tried to breach the Norton defence with a series of forward carries, but Norton’s defence stood firm and matched anything that Stothert threw at them. Norton extended their advantage when Andrew Best collected Luke Murphy’s kick, before Jack Johnson added his name to the scoresheet after Knight had secured a good ball from the line-out.
Norton added another to take their lead to 29 points when Drew Davis, already denied by a bizarre refereeing decision, scored a pushover try after a fine effort from the Norton pack.
Playing up the hill, Norton naturally found the second half a trickier challenge, but showed their maturity to control the game throughout. Johnson got his second of the game after charging down a kick, but had to be substituted after horrifically winding himself in the process. Stothert finally got on the scoreboard after 55 minutes, when the number eight broke challenges to cross the whitewash.
However, any hopes of a comeback were soon extinguished, when Best sniped over from the back of a maul to score, before Joe Knight capped a fine individual and team performance to gallop over late on.
Next week, the Seconds look for a third win in a row when they host Walcot II at Norton Down.