Taunton Warriors Vs Hornets

Hornets kicked off, Taunton gathered close to the touchline, fed the ball to Tom Stewart, who somehow managed to elude the Hornet’s defence and with just 45 seconds on the clock used his blistering pace to score a try which Rhodri Hopkins converted giving Warriors a 7-point lead.  The Warriors then seemed to dominate play and it was only small mistakes which allowed Hornets any possession.  Even at the scrum Hornets had untidy ball as the Warriors pushed them back at pace.  From one such scrum Hornets kicked up field into the Warriors 22 for the ball to be fumbled and the Hornet back row ponced to give them an opportunist try which was converted bringing the scores level.  Again, the Warriors dominated from the re-start and a similar kick through from Hornets and fumble in their own 22 saw Hornets score their second try which was converted to give them a seven-point lead. From the re-start the Warriors again attacked and hooker Liam Dray was rewarded with a try with the conversion missed the Warriors were now within two points of Hornets.  Hornets started to get a little more possession and showed some attacking flair by their backs, and it was only some outstanding tackling by Ben Fenton and Nial Crouch in the centre that kept them out.  However, Hornets did eventually go over for their third try to give them a 19-point to12 half time lead.

The second half started in a similar way to the first only this time it was the Hornets wing who squeezed up the touchline to score after only 27 seconds of the half.  The conversion was missed, and Hornets then had twice as many points as Warriors and led 24-points to 12.  It took 19minutes of the second half for the Warriors to start to close that gap when we saw Rhodri take a ball close to the left-hand touchline and precisely kick to the right-hand side touchline where full-back Ben Alvis was able to take the ball on the run and score an unopposed try which Rhodri converted to take the score to 24-points to 19.  The Warriors then lost hooker Liam Dray and number 8 and captain Chris Mills went into hooker.  This brought Michael Owen in for his first game after injury to take up the number 8 position. The Warriors scrum still dominated and when Rhodri again from on the left put in one of his deft kicks to the right wing it was Tom Stewart who took the ball on the run.  The Hornets defence were unable to stop him, and he scored in the corner. The conversion was missed, and the scores were level. It was then we lost prop Josh Court, however Michael Owen stepped up to prop and with two backrows in the front row still the Hornets pack went back in the scrum. With just 3 minutes left on the clock Hornets were awarded a penalty just inside the Taunton half and opted to kick at goal which was successful which took them into a 3-point lead.  Josh Court returned to the game with just two minutes on the clock and from the re-start the Warriors had intent winning the ball and pressing at the Hornets line.  Hornets gave away 7 penalties in keeping the Warriors at bay, but the Warriors took the scrums or tapped and drove. With the clock on 80 minutes Michael Owen crashed over for a try which Rhodri converted.  The game did re-start, but the Warriors gathered the ball and denied Hornets any chance of a late score.  This gave Sam Baker the opportunity to choose his time and spot to kick to touch for the final whistle.  This gave the Warriors the win 31-points to 27 giving them their 6th win out of eight in the league and leaving them in second place.

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