Taunton v Barnes

After 5 days of continuous rain a forward battle was expected but the pitch condition was outstanding. After 2 minutes Barnes conceded a penalty which Kingdom put into the corner. Taunton won the line out and rolled towards the Barnes line for Barry John Chapman toscore. Just 10 minutes gone and Kingdom puts in one of those deft kicks measured to perfection which wing Oscan Kolowski collected on the run to score a superb try which Kingdom converted.

From the kick off Taunton won the ball but Webb's attempt at a kick was charged down for Barnes prop George Hunter to kick on and score. Taunton from the kick off won the ball and retained this with several phases of play, this created a number of holes in the in the Barnes defence which was exploited by Brett Harvey the Taunton number 7 who drew the defence to set the Taunton wing Jack Arnott in space to race in for the try.

Taunton continued to dominate large phases of play which saw some good interplay of passes between forwards and backs resulting fullback racing into the line making the hole in the defence for Kolowski to score his second of the afternoon. From the kick off Barnes started to press forward and tested the Taunton defence. Kingdom took the ball and sent a kick through which was gathered by Barnes but they were unable to escape a superb tackle by wing Jack Arnott from which Barnes spilled the ball for Julian Salvi to score on the stroke of half-time. Kingdom added the extras for the half-time score of Taunton 31 Barnes 5.

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Barnes came out in the second half on a mission and within 4 minutes had scored a converted try but Taunton replied with what must be considered the try of the season by debutant full back and man of the match Greg Kitson. He took a ball under pressure in his own half made a dummy and break the a delicate chip which he collected at pace to outstrip the Barnes defence and score. This seemed to shake Barnes as within 2 minutes Taunton hooker Gosling scored another for Taunton. Again almost from the kick off Taunton mistakes allowed Barnes in for a try. The crowd murmurs seemed to back a Barnes revival but local player Ben Oliphant-Thompson put the game to bed for the final score and give Taunton a comfortable 49 points to 19 bonus points win