MIDSOMER NORTON 35 AVONMOUTH OLD BOYS 17

After a frustrating February, with some poor results and even worse weather, Midsomer Norton welcomed a strong Avonmouth side to Norton Down in an eagerly anticipated Tribute Western Counties North League fixture.

It was the away side that took the early initiative and scored first through their Number 8 after sustained pressure, before one of the rarest events in rugby occurred when Hugh Jeffery charged down the conversion.

As the early exchanges continued, it was Norton who began to exert their own pressure through fine set-piece work and hard running. A penalty try was awarded from a collapsed scrum before Joe Button broke and fed Clark who, with a sumptuous piece of sleight-of-hand, put the powerful Sam Knight away down the blindside wing. Both of these were converted by Taylor, who once again made a mockery of the wind and heavy conditions from the tee.

The second half continued in a similar vein, with Midsomer Norton having a slight edge in the set-piece and both teams playing hard, committed rugby in both attack and defence. A feature of Avonmouth’s attack was their ability to cut through the centre, with their 13 looking dangerous throughout and scoring two tries.

The game was close until Abbot finished off a fine move from a scrum in a central area, after a break from Taylor. Soon after returning, Alex Mitchard brushed off would-be tacklers in typical style to put Norton in charge. There was time for one more score from snake-hips, Rich Martin, after a good offload from Jeffery, making the final score 35–17.

Avonmouth will be disappointed to come away with nothing after a fully committed performance, but they came across a much improved and more street-wise Midsomer Norton on this occasion, who will be expecting to build on this in their Cup game vs Yeovil in Castle Cary on Thursday.

Steve Blackmore