Winscombe RFC

Winscombe 1sts travelled to Thornbury at the weekend in Regional 2 Tribute Severn and came away with an impressive bonus point win that may well play an important role in keeping them in this league at the end of the season.

Winscombe started strongly, dominating territory in the first quarter. Eventually their pressure paid off when scrum-half Lewis Podpadec dived over for a try from short range to open the scoring. Centre Sam Dearsley soon added a penalty from the 22 metre line following an offside infringement.

Thornbury, capitalising on some loose play by the visitors, responded before half time with two tries of their own. Firstly, lock Tom Constable crossed beneath the posts with fly-half Sam Poustie converting, then Sam Mclaren finished off a fine backline move to score in the corner. The home team went into half-time 12-8 up, but faced playing up the not-inconsiderable slope in the second period.

An early break by Winscombe full-back Will Power set up the first try of the second half which came courtesy of No8 Matt Fitzpatrick following a forwards drive to the line before a blindside break down the left off a 22 metre scrum allowed Podpadec to feed wing Harry Brean who went in at the corner.

With their forwards beginning to dominate at the set-piece and the incline taking its toll, Winscombe upped their game. Podpadec crossed for the bonus point try from short range in a carbon copy of his opening score before wing Harry Brean finished off his own second try following a flowing backline move that went from one touchline to the other. As the clock counted down to the final whistle and with Winscombe camped on the Thornbury try-line there was just enough time for Dearsley to cross for two further short range tries, both of which he converted himself.

Winscombe entertain fierce rivals Gordano in two weeks time and will hope for a similar display to help consolidate their place in the table.

Report and Pics - John Podpadec