This weekends fixture saw Withycombe travel a short way up the motorway to Collumpton - always a friendly and welcoming fixture.

And this year it was no different - some familiar faces maybe, but the performance on the pitch was anything but a repeat of the fixture last year. With Withy mustering a strong band of 11 Collumpton had a much larger squad of nearer 30. the travelling Withy supporters (AKA parents) more than made up for this with an excellent performance themselves!!

The familiar format of 2 games, each with 10 minute halves, saw Withy take on essentially 4 different Collumpton sides. The first game saw Withy take the upper hand with some excellent play with the try line being peppered on a regular basis. There were a number of excellent performances from Withy players - clearly the players are starting to take onboard many of the things that the coaches are saying. In particular Rory demonstrated that he clearly understands that taking the ball at pace will give him a much greater chance of breaching the defense. Some brilliant running from him set up a number of early tries.

Almost always on his shoulder, and ready to take the offload, was Sam - superb running and support play - and easy to spot with his mop! Another notable performance to mention is that of Will. 1st game back from 6 weeks out with a broken ankle, Will had an excellent return - with some superb line breaks making Withy very dangerous when on the attack. Welcome back Will!! Don't go climbing any trees during the rugby season please!

Also particularly pleasing was the organisation in the back line - and always in the thick of it was Luke......Luke had an excellent game today and really got stuck in - with several line breaks he help Withy secure a number of scores in the first game. Harry G was also notable in defense - always the first up on the opposition to put them under pressure. Key when defending.....!

The first game, although tight, saw Withy outscore the home side and on balance it was a strong performance with some great skills on display.

The second game was in itself a game of 2 halves. The Collumption team definitely brought their A game in the 1st half with some superb skill sin attack including a spectacular switch that saw a resulting score in the corner. With the challenge now laid out, Withy upped their game in defense. One of the stand out players of the day (in addition to all those already mentioned!!) was Evan. In attack Evan was busy, with several line breaks, but it was in defense that he showed the greatest improvement with tackle after tackle going in. It must be the spangly new red scrum cap Evan??

With Collumpton narrowly out scoring Withy, the 3rd quarter drew to a close and the 2nd half saw Withy regain the upper hand. Step up Tom who came more into the game and got his legs going - with some great gains with the ball in hand. (more about him later). Rory again scored a couple of superb tries, and also set up a number of tries - ably converted by Ollie r and others.

As the game progressed Withy tightened their grip, and yet again another star of the day swooped for another score - well done Charlie for another great display bagging several tries. Ryan got more involved stepping up in defense and putting in some big tackles!! Well done for marshaling the back line and some great support play. And a final mention for one of the team's most consistant players - Jason. As our secret weapon Jason's darting runs and effort in defense.....great effort.

Awards - today we decided to have 2 awards - Most Improved Player and Man of the Match:

Most Improved Player: Tom!! Great effort today - well deserved.
Man of the Match: Ollie!! for some great ball distribution and a hatrick of tries.....Superb effort!!

A very enjoyable fixture played in the right spirit - Thanks to all the parents for their taxi skills and see you all next week.