Midsomer Norton travelled to recently-promoted Barton Hill for what was always going to be a tough match for both sides.

Norton started the better of the two teams as they carried well, playing down the slope, in the opening minutes of the game.

After some early pressure deep inside the Barton Hill twenty-two, Norton were awarded a penalty in which they opted for a scrum. The dominant pack was on-hand to allow number 8, Jamie Rose, to touch down for a push-over try, with Taylor adding the extras.

From the following kick-off, Norton gathered the ball well, and an overlap on the blindside allowed a break to be made in the Barton Hill defence. After some interlinking play, Ben Palmer ran in for a great try in the right-hand corner to collect Norton’s second points of the afternoon, taking the score to 12-0 after five minutes.

Barton Hill, however, were not phased by this good start from Norton; the home side were able to use short pick-and-go drives to gain hard yards up the slope, and eventually, with ill discipline from Norton along with good ball-carrying from Barton Hill, were able to get a try of their own, taking the score to 12–7.

Handling errors from the Norton side made it very difficult to string phases together for the remainder of the half. The Home team capitalised on these mistakes, and they were able to hold possession for long periods and deservedly scored another converted try to make score 14-12 to Barton Hill at the end of the first half.

Once again, Norton started the second half the brighter of the two teams, with Fear, Jeffery and Jenner carrying the ball well up the slope. After a series of phases, Jamie Rose was able to crash over the line to regain the lead for Norton, taking the score to 14-17.

Unfortunately, both Clark and Schuster had to leave the field due to head injuries, along with a Barton Hill front-row player being injured, causing the game to move to a different pitch.

As the game closed, Norton looked comfortable with the ball in-hand, and Ben Palmer was able to score his second try of the game, to also secure the bonus-point victory late in the game, leaving the score 24-17.

All credit to Barton Hill, who made the visitors work very hard for the victory. This week, Norton host Cheltenham in the hope of securing another good performance at home.