Weston XV (20) v (25) Taunton

A dreadful day at the office for Weston as they bowed out of the Somerset Cup at a wet and windy North Petherton against lower league opposition, and in doing so brought a little solace to the South West Two club who have spent copiously in their attempt to gain promotion, but which now looks very unlikely.

Taunton brought out the heavy roller in a large well fed pack which dominated the set pieces against Weston’s severely depleted eight. With the wind at their back, they dominated territorially and must have been disappointed to have only managed two penalties at half time in spite of several driving mauls and lineout dominance, where Weston didn’t function at all.

Weston opened the scoring in the second half when from a set move in a rare lineout success, Andy Richards scattered defenders as he powered through for a try which went unconverted. 6-5 and the cup holders back in the game but they threw away the momentum when slack tackling allowed Taunton a sloppy try in the corner.

Ben Main kicked a penalty to close to 11-8 but Taunton responded with a try from their diminutive fly half who kicked ahead speculatively and regathered as a static Weston defence stood and watched to somehow wriggle over under the posts for a seven pointer and an 18-8 lead.

Once again Weston responded. They finally started to win lineout ball and were far more effective in the loose, driving Taunton back at will. Richards was driven over in the far corner for his second try. Main missed the difficult conversion but minutes later, Matthew Burns scooted over in the corner following one of the few decent backs moves from either side. This time Main converted. 20-18 with two minutes left.

Alas everything went wrong. What should have been a simple operation to run down the clock went horribly wrong. The kick off was not cleared and from a scrum ten yards out, Young had his kick charged down.  Taunton was awarded a penalty from a scrum, and then from a second scrum, the referee decided that the Weston front row had stood up and awarded an arbitrary penalty try. Very contentious. How he could judge that is anyone’s guess but the damage was done!!

The Cup will make a rare journey outside Weston and Bridgwater for the next twelve months as neither club is any longer involved.

Weston team….David Taylor (Harry Warman), Matt Burns, James Reid,(Chris Young), T.J.Madamombe, Paul Sprague, Ben Main, Neil Coleman, Ed Hunt, David Burge, James Gallagher (Darren Doughty), (Neil Lavender), Andy Richards, Will Tuitupou, Tom Main, Tom Gilmore, Barry Sparks.