South West 1 West
North Petherton 27, Drybrook 33

NORTH Petherton were edged out by six points at home to Drybrook.

Following a penalty try, the hosts’ second five-pointer came from Henry Glidden, who had a short sprint to the line from Arron Gibbs’ pass.

Gibbs scored in the dying seconds, finding an opening to dash 22 metres to touch down, with the conversion from Harry Roberts being the last kick of the game and securing a losing bonus point.

That now means two wins, two defeats and two losing bonus points for Pethy so far this season, just being edged out in close games.

Their next match sees them travel to Exeter University this Saturday.

***

Somerset Premier
Bridgwater & Albion 2nd XV 12, Old Redcliffians 2nd XV 43

BRIDGWATER & Albion’s second string suffered a second defeat of the season, beaten at home by Old Redcliffians 2nds.

They are yet to pick up a point, and will aim to get off the mark away to Avon on Saturday.

***

Somerset 1
Morganians 26, Bristol Barbarians 30

MORGANIANS hosted one of the division’s top teams on Saturday and, as they were missing four of the pack that had triumphed over Keynsham the previous week, the home side had to start two centres in the back row.

It wasn’t until after 25 minutes the Barbarians got on the scoreboard, when one of their huge forwards scrambled over the line.

On 35 minutes, Josh Cooper saw yellow for an innocuous tackle and Barbarians forced their way over to make the half-time score 10-0.

Morgs shuffled their pack and increased the pressure but Barbarians extended their lead to 23, following two tries and a penalty.

Morgs never backed down and the pressure resulted in a penalty.

When Jordan Mein’s shot at the posts held in the strong wind, Ryan Rossiter ran through a static defence to gather the ball and score.

Mein converted to make it 23-7.

The next score went to the away team in controversial circumstances to make it 30-7.

Morgs could sense the away team were wobbling, despite their lead.

First, Gavin Hancock went over after good combination play on the right (30-14) before Martyn Keep crossed in the corner (30-19).

From the resulting kick-off, Morgs moved the ball across the pitch and Hancock raced down the flank to score under the posts and secure two losing bonus points from an unlikely position.

Morgs – now fifth in the Somerset 1 standings – travel to Bristol Harlequins this Saturday.

***

Somerset 1
Bath Old Edwardians 27, North Petherton 2nd XV 28

NORTH Petherton 2nds snatched a one-point victory away to Bath Old Edwardians, to bounce back from the previous weekend’s home defeat against Chew Valley 2nds.

The win lifts them up to ninth in the table, and they host Wyvern this coming weekend.

***

Somerset 2 South
Bridgwater & Albion 3rd XV 19, Martock 17

ALBION 3rds also claimed a narrow win on Saturday, beating Martock 19-17 in their first outing of the season in Somerset 2 South.

They will look to build on that positive start this coming Saturday, when they travel to Weston-super-Mare 4ths, who have one win and one loss so far.