Wincanton Rugby

A massivly improved performance from Wincanton saw them get their first victory 12-3 over Fordingbridge at Dancing Lane.
Although cold it was a lovely day for rugby with the pitch in good condition due to the amount of rain which had fallen in the past week, Fordingbridge kicked off and went straight on the attack and Wincanton organised their defence and soaked up the pressure resulting in Fordingbridge giving away a penualty which gave Wincanton chance to clear their lines and relive the pressure.
Russell Fortino playing only his second game of the season made a strong partnership with Jim Adams who was playing his first game of the season after recovering from a knee injury. Wincanton kept their defence tight and slowly worked their way down the pitch and their play at the breakdown was on top form and with the ball coming back nicely it was fullback Justin French who went over from close range after a great run from Adams put Wincanton in a great position. Taking the restart well Wincanton again moved down the pitch with Fortino and Adams making life hard for Fordingbridge after getting quick ball from scrum half Jay Fear all game long. Before half time Fordingbridge scored what was to be their only points of the game from a penualty after a Wincanton forward went off his feet at the breakdown.
Playing with the sun and slope in their favour Fordingbridge elected to kick deep into Wincanton's half time and time again in the second half but French kept mopping up and putting Fordingbridge back where they came from. A positional change of Fortino moving to centre, French to flyhalf and youngster Joe Bridger to full back worked fantastic for Wincanton as taking every kick sent to him and running it back with interest Bridger got Wincanton up into and staying in the Fordingbridge half. With a great scrum sending the ball loose in the opposition 22 Fear quickly reacted to give the ball to French who put Fortino over for Wincantons second try of the game which Bridger stepped up and converted. All game long strong running from returning number 8 Greg Palmer got Wincanton moving forward which laid the foundation for what was without doubt Wincanton's best performance of the season so far. Next up is a trip to Weymouth next Saturday in what is sure to be another tough encounter.