The plaudits in this match belonged to the Cully forwards. The fact that the entire front row, loosehead Gareth Walker, tight head John Snell and replacement hooker Jeremy Turner walked off the pitch with a try apiece underlined the point; the point being that the Cully pack, increasingly in recent games, have scored to close out pressure built up along the opposition five, a situation that so often ends in stalemate, a sense frustration amongst the attack and a dropped ball or a penalty to relieve the defending side. The pack demonstrated superior fitness to keep their scrum dominant for ninety minutes, a purple patch for hooker Chris Grant’s throwing found locks Simon Kittow and Ollie Reed, number eight Josh Mammola, flanker Sean Mardell and even Snell at the end of the line, making their lineout effective and their contribution in open play, especially Kittow’s try saving cover tackle performed right in front the grandstand, will survive in the memories of spectators well beyond the end of the season.

Playing manager Steve Luxon and coach Will Chudley were on the touchline and both were purring at the final whistle. Their joint opinion was that after maximum effort required by Cully’s previous two encounters with top sides, Drybrook and Exeter University, this would have been an easy one to lose despite the fact that they were fielding almost the same side as was successful against Clevedon and even had the same ref Dan Gorfin from Bristol. Indeed Keynsham’s tight well organised defence produced a score of three all at the break and the only chink in their armour was in the forwards which Cully exploited in the second half so successfully that a Keynsham player remarked that his team had seen very little of the ball in the last twenty minutes. Luxon and Chudley both expressed pride in their team who had dogged out the win against tough opposition.

Keynsham started brightly and a good tackle in the third minute forced Cully to hold on to the ball giving their centre Sam Challenger a pot at goal and the visitors a 0-3 lead. The pattern of the contest then emerged with three quarters of the first half being played out in Keynsham territory and it was apparent from the start that the visitors had no answer to the Cully scrum. That the score was 3-3 at the break was a tribute to the tackling and organisation of their defence and the evident experience of their pack in twisting and turning and getting out of a tight spot at scrum time with so many resets that the set piece became a tedious spectacle.

Cully payed frequent visits to the opposition twenty two by using their possession to make the hard yards and there was jubilation in the grandstand in the seventh minute when winger James Shere was put in for a touch down by centre Dan Sanders. The pass was declared forward but Cully expectation remained high for another five minutes during scrum and lineout action in the Keynsham red zone but the ball was cleared to mid field and Cully were still pointless. After a period in their own half Cully got on the scoreboard when, from a penalty lineout inside the Keynsham ten, a fine throw by Grant was taken in for a maul that moved rapidly towards the goal. It was pulled down giving centre Adam Pearce an easy three points to square the score. Cully kept up the pressure with another express maul being halted at the line by the referee for accidental off side and just before the break from a strong position on the opposition five the ball was thrown wide from a scrum but knocked on by a Cully player with the line at his mercy

The scoring all took place in the last half hour with Keynsham concluding a five minute stay in the Cully half in the fifty second minute when the hosts were penalised attempting to hold up a maul and Challenger struck another three pointer for 3-6. Four minutes later Cully regained the lead. Shere ran back the restart, handing on to Reed. Flyhalf Alex Brooks rescued a pass at bootlace level with the ball going through Mardell, Grant and Sanders before Grant was stopped just short in the goal mouth and Snell picked up and was driven over by replacement eight Steve Nockles. This may well be Snell’s first senior try as he thought he was a colt when he last had one.

Pearce converted for a Cully lead of 10-6 but it was lost again at the end of the third quarter to some very nice handling by Keynsham down the right wing in a move involving four players which put winger Rob Breckon in at the corner for the only back’s try of the match. Challenger did not convert but the visitors were in the lead 10-11. Shortly after this score Challenger had another opportunity to stretch the lead to four but miskicked and play swept up field much helped by a fine box kick by scrum half Tom Frankpitt. Under pressure a Keynsham defender sliced a clearance and Cully had a lineout in the opposition twenty two from which the ball was spread wide and Shere broke through handing on to Walker who homed in on the line and was immediately immersed in a pile of bodies, all of whom claimed to have driven him over as he was confirmed as the scorer. This was Walkers first 1stXV try in his four years with the club and the second maiden try in the game; a welcome and well deserved beam of limelight on two players would do all the graft with little acclaim.

Pearce held his nerve for the moderately difficult conversion for a lead of six at 17-11 on sixty seven minutes. With only six points in it and a number of good kickers in Brooks, fullback Lewys Ryan, Pearce and Frankpitt; Cully made sure that play remained in the Keynsham half. With the final whistle imminent the visitors kicked for a penalty lineout on half way but Cully held up their maul and won the scrum after the inevitable reset. Nockles handed the ball to Walker who passed to Shere for a nice break and offload to Ryan. Ryan took contact but was not held and popped it up to Reed who was held rather too well for the referee who awarded a penalty to Cullompton.

It was a quite a difficult kick but one that majestic kicker, Pearce was well capable of and it would deprive the visitors of their losing bonus point. Supporters watched with bated breath but the kick was far from majestic, more like a dolly drop which sailed high in the air and fell well short of the goal. For the second time in the season Reed raced in and grabbed the ball but on this occasion did not get the points himself as arch poacher, replacement hooker Jeremy Turner was in close support and dived over for a score that Pearce converted for a slightly flattering 24-11.