Western Counties West
Wellington 27, Paignton 6

ON a glorious sunny day, ideal for running rugby, Wellington welcomed Paignton to The Athletic Ground, writes Allyn Chetland.

In front of a large home support, the Red & Blacks scored within the opening minutes with an unconverted try by Danny Lee after an unstoppable driving maul from a lineout.

A period of dominance, in both terms of territory and possession, followed for the R&Bs with many chances being created, but they had to wait until the half-hour to cross the line again.

Nev Pitman benefitted from a deft cross-field kick by Paddy Jarman to cross for another unconverted try.

It was Paignton’s turn to have the upper hand in the final minutes of the half, but were held at bay by the home defence, with only a penalty kick to show for this effort.

The second half was a more even affair, with both teams having scoring chances, but it was Cam Venn who broke the deadlock with a well-taken try from 25 metres to extend the hosts’ lead.

Full-back Alex Davey made no mistake with extra points from in front of the posts.

Paignton responded with a well-organised attack which drew another penalty kick, but further pressure by the R&Bs saw Tim Jenkinson crash over for unconverted try following a series of rucks on Paignton’s line.

With 15 minutes left, Danny Lee scored his second try of the match, an individual effort from 30 metres out, to put the result beyond doubt.

There were no further scores, Wellington winning 27-6.

Ollie Price impressed in his first start of the season at prop, Chris Kitto had another fine game in the second row, while Chris Batts had another solid outing.

Next week sees the squad travel to Saltash. The Cornish side gained promotion along with The R&Bs last season and the two encounters last season were highly competitive and entertaining.

Wellington: J.Hancock, J.Dyke, O.Price, R.Walker, C.Kitto, D.Lee, L.Phillips, C.Venn, T.Jenkinson, P.Jarman(c), T,Hart, C.Batts, R,Hooper, N.Pitman, A.Davey, W.Hinchcliffe, L.Wadham, V.Gordon.

*** 

Somerset Premier
Wiveliscombe 38, Imperial 15

WIVELISCOMBE made a decent start to this Somerset Premier encounter against mid-table Imperial, who have increased their playing staff considerably over the summer and are looking to make an impact this season, writes Roger Bellamy.

Playing up the slope, the visitors looked the sharper early on, developing good phases of play through forwards and backs.

Wivey had to defend well, but gradually gained a foothold in the match, producing some powerful driving mauls as well as putting the visitors’ set scrums under increasing pressure.

Imperial limited their hosts to two first-half tries, with second row Ross Pearson showing how important he is to the team by bursting through Imperial’s defence to score near the posts; full-back Dan Quick converted.

Wivey scored their second try through one of those driving mauls, finished off by young hooker Callum Lane, and Quick again converted to make the half-time score 14-0.

Imperial increased the pressure early in the second half, with the home side finding the visitors’ all-round game difficult to contain.

Their three-quarters in particular looked useful, and full-back Mark Woodrow looked dangerous when he had ball in hand.

He scored Imperial’s first points, kicking a penalty after Wivey were offside.

In the third quarter Imperial looked the better team and deservedly took the lead, with tries from Ryan Randall and Tristan Fortingale.

Woodrow converted one for a 15-14 advantage.

Wiveliscombe picked up several injuries and had to use all of their replacements from the bench.

This disrupted their play for a while, but to their credit they recovered well to win the match in the last quarter.

Quick, who always looked dangerous, scored the first of three more Wivey tries.

Pearson crossed for his second and fly-half George Rowe sold several outrageous dummies to cross for the home team’s final five-pointer.

Quick completed a good day with the boot, kicking all three conversions and a penalty late on, to secure a bonus-point victory.

***

Somerset 3
South Wyvern 93, Chard 3rds 5

ON a beautiful sunny Saturday, Wyvern welcomed Chard 3rd XV to Mountfields Road for the first league game of the season.

Chard, having won the toss, bravely decided to play uphill for the first half.

Wyvern quickly retrieved their own kick before passing out for John Isaacs to score the first try of his hat-trick.

The game fell into a familiar pattern of the Wyvern forwards working hard to secure some ball, then passing out for the backs to score.

Dylan Jones, who also scored a hattrick, played out of position in the back row.

On one occasion Jones broke through, leaving would-be tacklers in his wake on an run over half the length of the pitch, before he was taken out by an invisible sniper, falling just before the line and spilling the ball with no-one within 10 metres.

Realising they could not possibly top this for foolishness, Chard began to play with more freedom.

But Wyvern stood firm and finished the half with Jon Parish handing off to score under the posts.

The second half started similarly to the first, with Chard struggling to retain the ball through the phases.

To Chard’s credit, their forwards kept working hard, and claimed a pushover try.

Overall, the scrums were fairly even but the key difference was that the Wyvern backs always looked dangerous; man of the Match ‘Paddy’ Fahy-Browne ran in four tries and had a hand in setting up numerous others.

Special mention also for Tom Bennett who controlled the game and kicked well.

Two other games in the division were walkovers because of too few players – worrying sign for grassroots rugby in this area.

Wyvern RFC train on Wednesdays from 6.45pm at the Wyvern Club, Mountfields Road, and players looking for a friendly club are welcome to come along or to visit the club website.