Weston Win At The Vale

Close Game...

A typical hard fought local derby between first and second place in the league, on this chilly day in front of a sizeable crowd, both sides battled from the get go. After an early visit to the Weston half Clevedon were awarded a long range penalty, which was converted by the trusty boot of Kieran Hill. Weston, who are unbeaten this season, came back strongly through their heavier pack and after sustained pressure were awarded a penalty in front of the Clevedon posts, for 3-3. Weston continued to dominate and Clevedon spent long periods defending hard in their own 22 and denied Weston several scoring opportunities but did concede two further penalties, for Weston to move to a 3-9 lead. Just before the break, a rare forage into the Weston half saw Clevedon go through several phases of play, resulting in Ben Purcell touching down out wide for the only try of the game, unconverted to take the score to 8-9 going into the break.

After the break Clevedon upped the ante and had several visits into the Weston half, but poor decision making or handling errors let them down. This was certainly not a day for champagne rugby with both sides defences cancelling each other out and as a result the only further scores were a penalty each for an 11-12 final score. The Clevedon set piece, line-out and scrums were severely tested, however their defence stood firm and was superb all afternoon, with every playing laying it on the line.

Head coach Nick Hill commented "On reflection Weston were the better side on the day and just edged a very tight game, we didn't get the rub and when we did get chances we made silly mistakes. That said, our defence and willingness to play for each other and battle for 80 minutes was very pleasing and although we didn't get the win we are the first side this season to deny Weston a try."

Next Saturday Clevedon are home again to Drybrook, KO 2 30. V.P's lunch 1.30pm.