Taunton Warriors 34 Winscombe 23

If you believe that the best form of defence is attack, then I believe that is what you would have seen in this game.  The Warriors believed that they must keep the ball moving and they attacked and recycled the ball dominating the first 6 minutes.  The only relief for Winscombe was the Warriors giving away penalties and so from being in the Winscombe 22 a penalty took Winscombe well into the Taunton half where they won the lineout and scored a try completely against the run of play.  Taunton continued in the same way moving the ball away from the very dominant Winscombe pack which resulted in the magic footwork and pace of Ben Fenton who scored a try to level the scores.  This only lasted two minutes as some missed tackles allowed the Winscombe scrum half room around the base of the ruck to burst through and race away for the try.  Just four minutes later and yet another penalty against the Warriors saw Winscombe extend their lead and their formidable pack start to dominate.  Whilst Winscombe may win the scrums there was some outstanding work by both Taine Benson and Tom Labdon in the lineouts to steal the Winscombe ball.  This did not prevent Winscombe extending their lead on 23 minutes when their centre Will Pearce burst through from his own ten metre line to score.  He did have to leave the pitch and be replaced to allow him time to recover from the exertion.  With the score at 18 to 5 in Winscombe’s favour the writing looked on the wall for the Warriors but they continued to defend well and were rewarded when a superb kick by Jordan Gott took the Warriors to a lineout 10metres from the Winscombe line.  They won the ball and Wayne Sprangle went in for an unconverted try leaving the half-time score Warriors 10 Winscombe 18.

A young lad called Ben Cohen came on at outside half for there-start and he hoisted a high kick which was chased down by the Warriorsathletic second rows to make a successful challenge which resulted in a Taunton penalty.  The awareness of Connor Banks recognising we were being pushed off our own scrum ball, saw him take a quick tap and with Mike Owen in support the try was scored.  Ben Cohen converted and suddenly Warriors were just1-point behind.  The lead came just 3 minutes later when at last Jack Connor was given early ball and his strength and pace took him from the half-way line to score and give the Warriors the lead.  Winscombe with their forward dominance attacked but the Warriors defence held out.  Josh Court, the only recognised front row forward went over on his ankle and Mike Owen had to come up to prop.  The Warriors now had a complete backrow in the front row and so the Warriors with what possession they had constantly moved the ball.  It was on the hour that we probably saw the best try of the game.  Tom Labdon with his size burst through two tackles then with the pace of a winger raced to the line with the last line of defence he gave the biggest sidestep you have ever seen sending the defence completely the wrong way and groping at air, to score the try.  This seemed to take the fight out of Winscombe as suddenly the Warriors had a nine-point lead. This was extended on 68 minutes when once again Jack Conner was given the early ball and again from the half-way line his pace and elusive running took him in for the Warriors fifth try of the afternoon which Ben Cohen converted to take the score to Warriors 34 Winscombe 18.  Winscombe did rally in the last 10minutes but their robust scrummaging was their asset as well as their downfall.  They scored a push over try but in so doing Brodie Sheach, our stand in hooker sustained a neck injury this resulted in uncontested scrums.  This certainly took the pressure off the Warriors for the last five minutes.

The game showed the talent we have in the club to be able to beat a team two levels above.  It also showed the need to strengthen our front row although credit must be given to those who took on the role on the day.

‍