1st XV North petherton vs Devonport services
On a bitterly cold afternoon with an overcast sky Devonport’s, Richard Weat kicked off to open the game. Pethy hit hard from the offset earning a penalty early on. However, Devonport’s forwards were strong to start winning several defending scrums. Devonport attempted many kicks throughout the first 15 minutes which were defended well by captain Michael stevens. Despite the boys best efforts a penalty was given under the posts to which Devonport’s number 10 converted despite the windy conditions. Opening the scoring at 0-3. Devonport continued to pile pressure on Pethy’s defence to which the lads replied with hard hitting tackles and strong carries. The ball went back and forth amongst the two teams with conditions playing a huge part in both teams kicking game. After some continuous phases by Devonport attacks, the ball was put into touch and a line out later followed. After a strong push, the away side forced their way over the line making the score 0-8. The oaks didn’t let this phase them as they started off well forcing Devonport’s defence to make mistakes and capitalised on several defensive line outs. This was unfortunately overshadowed by a strong scrum from Devonport which followed by a quickly taken penalty by Dylan Daley forcing the visitors over the line to make the score 0-13. This ultimately concluded an interesting first half.
Mitch Needham started off the second half to which a strong Pethy chase forced an early knock on by Devonport. Devonport however continued to pile on phase after phase and with a strong defensive line forced a Pethy mistake to which Richard Goldsby – west slotted Tom Richards in for their third of the game. Despite the poor conditions Richard converted his kick making the score 0-20. The home team didn’t let their heads drop and continued to find weaknesses in the Devonport attack but failed to take advantage. From another line out, Devonport’s forwards drove over the line making the score 0-25. Another strong restart from the oaks forced the away team to knock on the ball. Pethy again couldn’t take advantage of this and after a Devonport scrum their number 8,Matthew Gregory, forced his way over the line making the score line 0-30. Devonport continued with the pressure right until the last minute. This rewarded them with a try that was converted making the final score 0-37 to Devonport.
